Journal of Law and Criminal Justice

General Overview and Critical Analysis of Italian Preventive Measures and Ecthr Case Law
Rachele Polidori

Abstract
To fight the growing penetration of illegal economies in legal economy, Italian legislator allowed the law enforcement authorities not only to impose measure of repression, but also to use the so-called “preventive measures” (wiretapping, protective custody, confiscation of assets), now collected in and regulated by the “Antimafia and prevention measures Code”. This is the most significant peculiarity of Italian experience, where the aim of prevention measures is not to punish the person, but rather to acquire, in favor of the State, assets which, illegally entered in the availability of dangerous people, have to be subtracted to them, in order to prevent further manifestation of their dangerousness. The application of “confiscation without conviction”, has caught, in recent decades, the attention of doctrine and jurisprudence, not only in Italy but also in other “supranational” systems, and posed the question of compatibility of prevention measures with European Convention on Human Rights. This paper wants to propose a general overview and a critical analysis of Italian preventive measure, also with respect to the ECtHR’s case law.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jlcj.v4n1a8