Paola Milli, Journalist AMMPE – Italy
Reinforced Red Code 2.0, the measure that Parliament has not yet approved. Faced with such a great tragedy, it is more necessary than ever to act on the law and denounce the risk situations of which knowledge is known, if the victims of violence do not have the courage to do so.
Women in Italy are almost always murdered by their husbands, partners or ex-partners, according to data provided by the Ministry of the Interior, whose balance sheet for the current year is constantly updated. The phenomenon, fuelled by a sexist social conception based on patriarchy, is transversal to all social classes, the average age of the victims is 55 years, many of them had already denounced mistreatment, harassment or domestic violence. In 2024, there were 120 murders of women in Italy.
In the first seven months of the current year, 60 femicides were recorded, 38 of which were committed by couples or ex-partners. The figure rises to 70 if we count the women murdered in October. On October 28, 2025, in Veneto, another woman was murdered by her husband, whom she had previously reported for abuse, but later withdrew the complaint and the man took off the bracelet he was obliged to wear. The electronic bracelet was introduced in Italy on an experimental basis in 2001 as an alternative measure to imprisonment, but the approval in 2019 of the Red Code also made it an instrument for preventing crimes related to domestic and gender violence.
In 2023, after the approval of law 168, the electronic bracelet was also applied to people accused of “spy crimes” of femicide, such as harassment and mistreatment. Equipped with a satellite geolocation system, it allows you to control the movements of the person wearing it. The victim also has a device capable of detecting the presence of the aggressor in the vicinity and sending the alarm to the police. However, the shortage of bracelets in sufficient number to meet current needs and the reliability of the electronic device make it not a tool capable of curbing the phenomenon.
It would be necessary that globally we are part of the immune system of those people who suffer violence and cannot report it. It is fair to foresee a form of anonymous complaint if, on the other hand, the police forces in charge of protection show adequate sensitivity, since, in addition to the non-filed complaints, many requests for help are registered to the authorities that have not been followed up.
In Parliament there is a bill that provides for the introduction of the “Reinforced Red Code 2.0”, which contemplates the obligation to wear an electronic bracelet for those who are reported for domestic violence or harassment, even before the validation of the judge. In addition, it has active surveillance thanks to artificial intelligence, which crosses complaint data, medical reports and warnings to identify risk situations. It offers shelters within 24 hours for women who file a complaint, with state coverage for the first three months, and immediately suspends parental authority in cases of violence witnessed by minors.
On July 23, 2025, the Senate unanimously approved bill 1433 that criminalises femicide, but without resources for prevention, training and reception, the new rule runs the risk of remaining a mere symbol. International experiences show that punishability alone is not enough: structural change is needed. In Europe, the countries that have already legislated against femicides are Croatia, Cyprus and Malta. The reference framework is that of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention. In no country has the introduction of the crime meant a decrease in the number of cases of femicide or violence.
The V Permanent Prevention Commission “Economic Programming and Budget” has declared that the fight against femicide and violence must be carried out according to the principle of financial invariance by the State, that is, without any provision of economic resources.
To combat such a deep-rooted cultural phenomenon, more structural interventions are needed, which are only possible with the allocation of funds. Without resources for compulsory training of justice operators or in schools, protection and prevention will be impossible to carry out. Resources have been identified to help orphans of femicide: the law allocates them 10 million euros, aid that will be applied to all minors deprived of their mother if she has been murdered for being a woman, even if the murderer had no emotional bond with her, neither at the time nor before the fact. It will also apply to the children of women who have survived attempts at femicide, but who have been seriously affected to the point of not being able to take care of their children.
