Under Italian Law, the crime of murder is regulated by Article 575 of the Italian Criminal Code, in protection of the right to life of the individual.
"Whoever causes the death of a man is punished with imprisonment of not less than twenty-one years”.
Murder is recognised as a crime, all over the world, but this has a different range of application and it is differently regulated from country to country. Nevertheless, the worldwide common feature is to cause the death of a person.
Among the different types of murder, in particular, it is easy to make confusion between manslaughter and unintentional murder.
Manslaughter occurs when death is caused by fault, i.e. when death is not intended but has occurred due to negligence, imprudence or malpractice. In this case, the offender did not want to commit a murder, but he did, because of his fault.
In this situation, the offender is generally punished by imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years, with the possibility of increasing the penalty, when certain circumstances take place.
Unintentional murder occurs when the offender simply wants to hurt the victim, resulting in killing him/her. Therefore, death is caused beyond the original intentions of injuring the person.
In this case, the offender is punished with imprisonment from 10 to 18 years.
The main difference, therefore, lies in the subjective element of the intention to cause harm to someone, hence also the significant difference in punishment between the two crimes.
Our Criminal Department will be more than happy to assist you. For further information please contact us or leave your contact details in the Contact Form and you will be contacted within 24 hours.