Vehicular Manslaughter in Italy: A New Criminal

Offense

Vehicular homicide in Italy is governed by Article 589 bis of the Criminal Code, as
separate criminal offense introduced by the new law no. 41 dated March 23rd 2016 on
vehicular homicide.

In accordance with the mentioned provisions, a motor vehicle driver, whose negligent
behaviour is the cause of the fatal event, is punishable.

The penalty provided for this offense is imprisonment, its entity is determined according to the
degree of the negligence.

The crime at issue, by now subject to a separate regulation, differs from manslaughter which is
otherwise covered by Article 589 of the Criminal Code.

Vehicular manslaughter Italy: penalty and aggravating factors

By Article 589 bis of the Criminal Code, vehicular homicide in Italy is subject to three different
sanction schemes, namely:

- imprisonment from 2 to 7 years, if death should occur as consequence of violation

of the traffic code;

- imprisonment from 8 to 12 years, to whom causes an individual's death under the influence
of drugs or severely under the influence of alcohol, i.e. with a blood-alcohol content exceeding
1.5 grams per litre (g/l);

- imprisonment from 5 to 10 years, if the murderer is under a slighter influence of alcohol (i.e.
blood-alcohol content exceeding 0.8 grams per litre) or caused the accident as a result of
dangerous behaviour (i.e. speeding, overtaking, dangerous U-turn, driving on the wrong side
of the road and breaches at traffic lights).

The above-mentioned assumptions remain unchanged but subject to different penalties

whenever the driver is under the influence of alcohol or drugs and causes injuries, more
particularly:

- from 3 to 5 years for serious injuries;

- from 4 to 7 years for extremely serious injuries;

- from 1 year 6 months to 3 years for serious injuries caused by driving under the influence of
alcohol (limit of 0.8 g/l) or harmful driving, from 2 to 4 years for extremely serious injuries.

For whom professionally undertakes activity of transportation of persons or goods (truckers or

bus drivers), in the circumstances under consideration, the most serious assumption of vehicle
manslaughter will be applied, even if the blood-alcohol content is exceeding 0.8 g/l.

In the event that the driver flees away after the car accident, the penalty increases from one
third to two thirds and cannot be less than 5 years for homicide, and 3 years for injuries.

Additional aggravating factors are considered in case of death or injuries of more than one
person or if driving without licence or insurance.

On the contrary, penalty is reduced into even half in case the car accident is not only
consequence of the sole offender's action.

Vehicular manslaughter Italy: can one loses his licence?

As a consequence of a vehicle homicide, the offender's driving licence will be automatically

revoked in case of conviction or plea bargain for homicide or road injuries. The driving licence
may be obtained again after 15 years in case of homicide and after 5 years in case of injuries.

With the Law under exam, regulation terms have also been increased and mandatory arrest in
case of flagrante delicto has been introduced, in the most serious scenario. For the less serious
cases, arrest is optional. Moreover, the court may order ex officio the enforced collection of
biological samples to determine the DNA.

By Arnone & Sicomo, Italy

Law Firm Website: https://www.arnonesicomo.com/home
Call +39 333 245 4773

AUTHOR: Arnone & Sicomo - International Law Firm

Copyright Arnone & Sicomo