2023-09-08 19:16:15
The Italian government is toughening its tone against juvenile delinquency. The decree-law published by the government of Giorgia Meloni on Thursday evening provides for the imprisonment of parents whose delinquent children are not in school and facilitates the arrest of adolescents from the age of 14 – instead of 18 previously – in possession of weapons.
The leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia (FDI) party, whose displayed firmness towards crime attracts many voters, was responding to two recent gang rapes, committed by minors and which shocked the public and dominated the media .
Des « baby gangs »
Some Italian cities, such as Naples (south), are also struggling to cope with a phenomenon that the media call “baby gangs”, groups of criminals made up of adolescents often recruited by the mafia for drug trafficking, theft and other crimes. “The situation has gotten out of control and something must be done,” Giorgia Meloni said at a press conference on Thursday.
In Sicily, in July, a 19-year-old woman was raped in Palermo by a group of seven young men, and the attack was filmed. Last week, Giorgia Meloni visited Caivano, a difficult suburb of Naples invaded by the local mafia, the Camorra, and where two cousins aged 10 and 11 revealed in August that they had been raped by other young people.
More repressive measures
The head of government assured Thursday evening by presenting the new measures that they were certainly “repressive” but also “preventive”. The decree expands the number of offenses for which young people over the age of 14 can be arrested and includes in particular the carrying of weapons, even white weapons. Judges can also ban, under certain conditions, mobile phones to minors aged over 14.
Parents, for their part, can be sentenced to two years in prison if their child does not attend school until the age of 16, the compulsory age in Italy, after a warning from the police, and to one year if the child has a high absenteeism rate. Currently, parents of students only risk a fine of 30 euros.
#Parents #outofschool #offenders #imprisoned