Indicator history

The Italian Constitution, in its article 3, guarantees the “equal dignity” of all citizens and the principle of equality before the law “without distinction based on sex, race,language, religion, political opinion, or personal and social conditions.” Italy’s Constitutional Court has repeatedly interpreted article 3 as applicable to all persons within Italian territory.

Italy has robust anti-discrimination legislation. While specific norms existed before, comprehensive legislation was adopted in 2003 when Italy transposed EU Directives 43 (on equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin) and 78 (one qual treatment in employment and occupation) in Legislative Decrees 215 and 216 of July 9, 2003.

The most important instrument in Italian law for prosecuting racist and other hateviolence is the penalty enhancement provision contained in Law no. 205 of 1993, commonly referred to as the “Mancino Law”. Its article 3 allows judges to increase the sentence to be imposed for acrime, by up to half, if it was committed “with the purpose of discrimination or hatred based on ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion, or in order to facilitate the activity of organizations, associations, movements, or groups that have this purpose among their objectives.” (Judges in Italy have discretion with respect to sentencing within the parameters established by law. A sentence for a racially-motivated offense can be increased by any amount of time up to one half again the minimum sentence for the offense in question). The aggravating circumstance of racist or other hate purpose can be applied to any crime, except those punishable by life in prison (the harshest penalty under Italian criminal law). The Mancino Law also makes it a crime to “instigate in any way or commit violence or acts of provocation to violence for racist, ethnic, national or religious motives,”punishable by six months to four years in prison, and to “propagate ideas based on racial superiority or racial or ethnic hatred, or to instigate to commit or commit acts of discrimination for racial, ethnic, national or religious motives,” punishable by up to one year and six months in prison or a € 6,000 fine.

After that in January 2006 the Parliament adopted an act, requested by the xenophobic party Lega Nord, which significantly weakens the penal­ties against hate speech and instigation to racial discrimination, the Mancino Law was modified by Law 85 of 24 February 2006, that substituted the word “instigate” for the original “incite”.

Source:

Human Rights Watch – Everyday Intolerance. Racist and Xenophobic Violence in Italy, 2011 - /resources/toolip/doc/2011/10/21/hrw---racist-and-xenophobic-violence-in-italy-2011.pdf