Italy’s parliament on Tuesday approved a law that introduces femicide into the country’s criminal law and punishes it with life in prison.
The vote coincided with the international day for the elimination of violence against women, a day designated by the U.N. General Assembly.
The law won bipartisan support from the center-right majority and the center-left opposition in the final vote in the Lower Chamber, passing with 237 votes in favor.
The law, backed by the conservative government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, comes in response to a series of killings and other violence targeting women in Italy. It includes stronger measures against gender-based crimes including stalking and revenge porn.
Intent is a relevant consideration for defining special categories of a crime assigned special penalties. However, it’s also important that the law not be discriminatory.
Does this law create a special category only for crimes driven by sexism toward females or any gender? It could be written as easily either way.
A law exclusively treating only sexism toward females as the word femicide suggests is discriminatory. A gender-neutral law that raises penalties for all sexism-driven homicides including femicide is nondiscriminatory. All sexism-driven crime should be punished equally regardless of gender.