Capital punishment in Italy
Encyclopedia
The use of capital punishment in Italy
has been banned since 1889, with the exception of the period 1926-1947. When Italy was unified in 1860, capital punishment had been allowed in almost all pre-unitarian states, except for Tuscany
(where it was abolished in 1786). It is currently banned since 1 January 1948, shortly after the proclamation of the Republic of Italy.
as of November 30, 1786, under the reign of Pietro Leopoldo, later Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. So Tuscany was the first civil state in the world to do away with torture and capital punishment.
However, the death penalty was sanctioned in the codes of law of all the other pre-unitarian states, therefore when the Kingdom of Italy
was proclaimed in 1860, legislation was divided, since the death penalty was legal in all of Italy except for Tuscany
.
Afterwards the death penalty was definitively abolished in the Penal Code in 1889 with the almost unanimous approval of both Houses of Parliament under suggestion of Minister Zanardelli. However executions in Italy had not been carried out since 1877, when King Umberto I granted a general pardon
(royal decree of pardon of January, 18 1878). Ironically, as a result of this pardon, Gaetano Bresci
could not be sentenced to death after he assassinated Umberto I in 1900. The death penalty was still present in military and colonial penal codes only.
In 1926, it was reintroduced by dictator
Benito Mussolini
to punish those who made an attempt at the king, the queen, the heir apparent
or the Prime Minister as well as for espionage
and armed rebellion. The Rocco Code (1930, in force from July 1, 1931) added more crimes to the list of those punishable with the death penalty, and reintroduced capital punishment for some common crimes. It was used sparsely, however; until the breakout of the war in 1940, a total of nine executions were carried out, allegedly not for political offenses, followed by another 17 until Italy's surrender in July 1943 (compared to almost 80,000 legal executions in Nazi Germany
, including courts martial).
The last people executed for civil crimes were three sicilian robbers
, also convicted of murder
, who battered and threw into a well ten people
(while still alive) on a farm near Villarbasse
(province of Turin
) in 1945. The president
, Enrico de Nicola
, declined to pardon them, and they were executed by a firing squad on the March 4, 1947 at Basse di Stura riverside, in the suburbs of Turin
. This was the last execution in Italy.
The Italian Constitution, approved on December 27, 1947 and in force since January 1, 1948, completely abolished the death penalty for all common military and civil crimes during peacetime. This measure was implemented by the legislative decree 22/48 of January 22, 1948 (provision of coordination as a consequence of the abolishment of capital punishment). The death penalty was still in force in Italy in the military penal code, only for high treachery against the Republic or only in war theatre perpetrated crimes (though no execution ever took place) until law 589/94 of October 13, 1994 abolished it completely from there as well, and substituted it with the maximum penalty of the civil penal code (imprisonment for life sentence). In 2007 a constitutional amendement was adopted. Article 27 of Italian Constitution was changed to fully ban the death penalty.
Prior to abolition, the death penalty was sanctioned in article 21 of the Italian penal code, and subsequently abolished. It stated that Death penalty is to be carried out by shooting inside a penitentiary or in any other place suggested by the Ministry of Justice. The execution is not public, unless the Ministry of Justice determines otherwise.
A draft law to ratify the 13th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights
had been approved by the Senate on October 9, 2008 (was approved earlier by the Chamber of Deputies on September 24). It was ratified on March 3, 2009.
. Italy proposed the UN moratorium on the death penalty
, which urges states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view toward abolition and urged states around to world to approve it. The former Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema
also stated that the next step was to work on abolishing the death penalty.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
has been banned since 1889, with the exception of the period 1926-1947. When Italy was unified in 1860, capital punishment had been allowed in almost all pre-unitarian states, except for Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
(where it was abolished in 1786). It is currently banned since 1 January 1948, shortly after the proclamation of the Republic of Italy.
History
In Italy, the first pre-unitarian state to abolish the death penalty was the Grand Duchy of TuscanyGrand Duchy of Tuscany
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was a central Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence...
as of November 30, 1786, under the reign of Pietro Leopoldo, later Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. So Tuscany was the first civil state in the world to do away with torture and capital punishment.
However, the death penalty was sanctioned in the codes of law of all the other pre-unitarian states, therefore when the Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
was proclaimed in 1860, legislation was divided, since the death penalty was legal in all of Italy except for Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
.
Afterwards the death penalty was definitively abolished in the Penal Code in 1889 with the almost unanimous approval of both Houses of Parliament under suggestion of Minister Zanardelli. However executions in Italy had not been carried out since 1877, when King Umberto I granted a general pardon
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
(royal decree of pardon of January, 18 1878). Ironically, as a result of this pardon, Gaetano Bresci
Gaetano Bresci
Gaetano Bresci was an Italian American anarchist who assassinated King Umberto I of Italy. Bresci was the first European regicide not to be executed, as capital punishment in Italy had been abolished since 1889.-Militancy:...
could not be sentenced to death after he assassinated Umberto I in 1900. The death penalty was still present in military and colonial penal codes only.
In 1926, it was reintroduced by dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
to punish those who made an attempt at the king, the queen, the heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
or the Prime Minister as well as for espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
and armed rebellion. The Rocco Code (1930, in force from July 1, 1931) added more crimes to the list of those punishable with the death penalty, and reintroduced capital punishment for some common crimes. It was used sparsely, however; until the breakout of the war in 1940, a total of nine executions were carried out, allegedly not for political offenses, followed by another 17 until Italy's surrender in July 1943 (compared to almost 80,000 legal executions in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, including courts martial).
The last people executed for civil crimes were three sicilian robbers
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
, also convicted of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, who battered and threw into a well ten people
Villarbasse massacre
The last execution in Italy took place on March 4, 1947 in Turin, where three men from Sicily, Giovanni D' Ignoti, Giovanni Puleo and Francesco La Barbero, were shot at a rifle range just outside the city of Villarbasse...
(while still alive) on a farm near Villarbasse
Villarbasse
Villarbasse is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 20 km west of Turin. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,894 and an area of 10.4 km²....
(province of Turin
Province of Turin
The Province of Turin is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin.It has an area of 6,830 km², and a total population of 2,277,686 . There are 315 comuni in the province – the most of any province in Italy...
) in 1945. The president
President of the Italian Republic
The President of the Italian Republic is the head of state of Italy and, as such, is intended to represent national unity and guarantee that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The president's term of office lasts for seven years....
, Enrico de Nicola
Enrico De Nicola
Enrico Roberto De Nicola was an Italian jurist, journalist, politician, and the first provisional Head of State of the newborn republic of Italy from 1946 to 1948.-Biography:...
, declined to pardon them, and they were executed by a firing squad on the March 4, 1947 at Basse di Stura riverside, in the suburbs of Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
. This was the last execution in Italy.
The Italian Constitution, approved on December 27, 1947 and in force since January 1, 1948, completely abolished the death penalty for all common military and civil crimes during peacetime. This measure was implemented by the legislative decree 22/48 of January 22, 1948 (provision of coordination as a consequence of the abolishment of capital punishment). The death penalty was still in force in Italy in the military penal code, only for high treachery against the Republic or only in war theatre perpetrated crimes (though no execution ever took place) until law 589/94 of October 13, 1994 abolished it completely from there as well, and substituted it with the maximum penalty of the civil penal code (imprisonment for life sentence). In 2007 a constitutional amendement was adopted. Article 27 of Italian Constitution was changed to fully ban the death penalty.
Prior to abolition, the death penalty was sanctioned in article 21 of the Italian penal code, and subsequently abolished. It stated that Death penalty is to be carried out by shooting inside a penitentiary or in any other place suggested by the Ministry of Justice. The execution is not public, unless the Ministry of Justice determines otherwise.
A draft law to ratify the 13th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
had been approved by the Senate on October 9, 2008 (was approved earlier by the Chamber of Deputies on September 24). It was ratified on March 3, 2009.
Public opinion
Italy has since developed a stance strongly against capital punishment. Fewer than half of Italians approved of the 2006 execution of Saddam HusseinExecution of Saddam Hussein
The execution of Saddam Hussein took place on December 30, 2006 . Saddam was sentenced to death by hanging, after being found guilty and convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the murder of 148 Iraqi Shi'ite in the town of Dujail in 1982, in retaliation for an...
. Italy proposed the UN moratorium on the death penalty
UN moratorium on the death penalty
The UN moratorium on the death penalty were two proposals by Italy and Chile supported by several countries and NGOs before the General Assembly of the United Nations that called for general suspension of capital punishment throughout the world...
, which urges states to establish a moratorium on executions with a view toward abolition and urged states around to world to approve it. The former Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema
Massimo D'Alema
Massimo D'Alema is an Italian politician. He is also a journalist and a former national secretary of the Democratic Party of the Left...
also stated that the next step was to work on abolishing the death penalty.