Which role for the victim in the Italian criminal process?

Abstract

It has been a long time since Europe decided to place the victim in the middle of its criminal justice policies. From the 2001/220/GAI Framework Decision, there have been great cultural and regulatory changes, also in Italy, where the victim traditionally is placed at the edge of the process. The slow rediscovery of the victim has reached its peak with the directive 2012/29/ EU: it is a 'Magna Charta' of the rights of the victim, which represents the necessary term of comparison to verify the compliance of individual national laws with respect to the Union law. Not everything, however, is resolved: some questions remain without a clear answer. First, we still have to know well who the victim is today: understanding its identity helps both to give her a correct baggage of rights and guarantees (information, participation, protection), both to work on the construction of an appropriate procedural role. On this second aspect, in particular, there are still doubts that do not find shared solutions. In Italy, the traditional suspicion demonstrated against the damaged, in order to claim compensation - inside of the criminal trial - for the damages suffered because of the offense, directs the interpreters towards a substantial distrust of the victim. It is difficult to see in the victim a part of the criminal process, without reference to the request for compensation. The essay examines, without preconceptions, the possibilities offered by a rethinking - in a participatory sense, as a real part - of the role of the victim in the criminal trial.