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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We have yet to see how this makes things better. If I were having an especially sceptic day, I’d just say this is a propaganda play (y’know, with women’s day around the corner). ‘Meloni is standing up for the weak’ - is the message I am getting.
If we can take it at face value, we can pocket the win. But having a gender-related rule created by a right-wing politician that hints at pushing conservative points makes me wary.
Luckily it doesn’t really matter what I believe, because there will be metrics on the matter. I do hope this new law helps curb violence. If nothing else, it’s a PSA that revenge porn is bad, which is way better than not talking about it.