The Italian government has approved a draft law that for the first time introduces the legal definition of femicide in the country’s criminal law and punishes it with life imprisonment.

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The Italian government approved a draft law that for the first time introduces the legal definition of femicide in the country’s criminal law and punishes it with life imprisonment.

The move, announced on the eve of International Women’s Day on Saturday, aims at tackling a shocking string of killings and violence targeting women in Italy through strengthening measures against gender-based crimes like stalking and revenge porn.

The proposal, agreed on late Friday, still needs to go through parliament and must be approved by both chambers to become law.

“This is an extremely significant bill, which introduces the crime of femicide in our legal system as an autonomous crime, punishing it with life imprisonment,” said conservative Premier Giorgia Meloni, who strongly backed the initiative.

“It introduces aggravating circumstances and increases sentences for crimes including personal mistreatment, stalking, sexual violence and revenge porn,” she said in a statement.

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  • yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    8·
    11 hours ago

    As we all know increasing the severity of punishments does wonders against crime.

    It’s why the United States has some of the lowest crime rates in the wor-… oh…

    But seriously, this is performative regulation that does hardly anything to reduce femicide. Significantly increasing education budgets and youth services just doesn’t get the same positive reaction from the general public.

    See the women’s rights organization’s statement at the bottom of the article:

    “It’s a propaganda move,” said activist Serena Fredda, while marching with thousands of people in the center of Rome. “This is a government that tends to multiply crimes and forgets that, despite the increase in penalties, there is no real deterrence.”