What Is Femicide? Italy Makes It Punishable With Life In Prison
Italy has introduced a new law to protect women from violence. The country has now ruled that perpetrators who commit femicide may be punished with life in prison, CNN reported. Italy’s parliament passed the nation’s newest law on Tuesday with bipartisan support.Femicide is the killing of a woman or girl specifically because of her gender. It often happens in cases involving domestic violence, intimate partners or gender-based hate.How severe is the issue of femicide in Italy?Italy’s newest law comes at a time when the nation is seeing a significant rate of violence against women. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who introduced the measure to combat femicide, said the country is now taking a number of steps to prevent violence against women.“We have doubled funding for anti-violence centers and shelters, promoted an emergency hotline and implemented innovative education and awareness-raising activities,” Meloni said on Tuesday, per CNN. “These are concrete steps forward, but we won’t stop here. We must continue to do much more, every day.”Per CNN, the country’s data shows that 106 femicides were recorded in 2024. The statistics also reveal that 62 of the 106 murders were committed by the victim’s partner or former partner.What happened in the case of Giulia Cecchettin in Italy?One of the most notable cases of femicide in Italy happened in 2023 when university student Giulia Cecchettin was murdered by her 23-year-old boyfriend, Filippo Turetta, who is now sentenced to life in prison, per CNN. Turetta wrapped his girlfriend’s body in bags and dumped it by a lake, BBC reported.Giulia’s sister, Elena, highlighted the root of the issue when she said the murderer is not a monster, but rather the “healthy son” of an extremely patriarchal society. Judge Paola di Nicola, who is one of the authors of Italy’s latest law, said the country will now record every case of femicide. “Femicides will be classified, they will be studied in their real context, they will exist,” Paola di Nicola said, per BBC.The post What Is Femicide? Italy Makes It Punishable With Life In Prison appeared first on Blavity.
