Italy
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1998
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- NOVEMBER 12, 1998 · On 12 November 1998, Kurd leader Abdullah Ocalan,...
- News items in the archive
- 712
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Italy is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 712 news items on Italy, from 1998 to today.
Italy abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes in the Constitution of 1948, removed it from the military penal code of war in 1994 and, in 2007, amended article 27 of the Constitution to delete the last reference to it. Since then it has supported a universal moratorium in international forums.
The Italian news in this archive concerns above all the association's other front: conditions inside places of detention, meaning overcrowding, suicides, access to care, life imprisonment without parole and alternative measures, together with the prison visits the association carries out and publishes reports on.
Latest news
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Colosseum was illuminated to mark the abolition...
The Colosseum was illuminated to mark the abolition of the death penalty in the Ivory Coast
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Fabrizio Vigni and Mauro Vannoni, MPs for the Democratic...
Fabrizio Vigni and Mauro Vannoni, MPs for the Democratic Left, together Parliamentary vice president Alfredo Biondi of Forza Italia, visited Rocco Barnabei in Virginia and pressured Governor Gilmore
- AUGUST 25, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Irene Pivetti, MP for the centre-left UDEUR party,...
Irene Pivetti, MP for the centre-left UDEUR party, called for a re-introduction of capital punishment in order to punish paedophiles
- AUGUST 17, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
It was announced that a football team from Spoleto...
It was announced that a football team from Spoleto would be sponsored by "Hands off Cain" in the forth-coming season
- JULY 26, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Italian Parliament approved a motion against the...
The Italian Parliament approved a motion against the death penalty, which was signed by all political party leaders
- JULY 25, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Pope John Paul II sent a message to the Governor of...
Pope John Paul II sent a message to the Governor of Virginia in which he urged that Rocco Barnabei not be executed
- JULY 21, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Members of the Italian Senate committee against the...
Members of the Italian Senate committee against the death penalty asked the governor of Virginia to grant a stay of execution to Derek Rocco Barnabei
- JULY 18, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The mother of Rocco Barnabei met with the Minister...
The mother of Rocco Barnabei met with the Minister of Justice Fassino, and was received in his Montecitorio (parliament) study by parliamentary vice-president Alfredo Biondi
- JULY 17, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
A press conference was held in Rome in which Jane Barnabei,...
A press conference was held in Rome in which Jane Barnabei, mother of death row prisoner Rocco Barnabei, together with Walter Veltroni (leader of the Democratic Left) and Fabrizio Vigni (member of Parliament who has followed the case for years) appealed a
- JULY 14, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Vice-president of the Italian Senate, Ersilia Salvato,...
Vice-president of the Italian Senate, Ersilia Salvato, wrote to French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in hope that the historic result of the presentation of the resolution on a world-wide moratorium on capital punishment, and its subsequent approval, wou
- JULY 6, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Italian Prime Minister, Giuliano Amato, stated...
The Italian Prime Minister, Giuliano Amato, stated to the Chinese Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji, who considers the death penalty to be a internal matter, that Italy's position is against capital punishment wherever it be applied, and regardless of what count
- JULY 4, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Members of the European Parliament of the 15 member...
Members of the European Parliament of the 15 member states met at a conference in Assisi, organised by the Senate Committee against the death penalty, and approved a document for the abolition of capital punishment Nicola Mancino, President of the Senate,
- JUNE 23, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Hands off Cain launched the third Annual Report on...
Hands off Cain launched the third Annual Report on the death penalty situation in the world
- JUNE 21, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The (government) DS leader Walter Veltroni sent a letter...
The (government) DS leader Walter Veltroni sent a letter to all political party leaders appealing for unanimous support to a parliamentary motion to save [Virginia death row inmate] Rocco Derek Barnabei's life
- JUNE 14, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The president of the Tuscan region, Claudio Martini,...
The president of the Tuscan region, Claudio Martini, decided to appeal to the Virginia state governor, James S
- MAY 30, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy's main aims as term president of the Council...
Italy's main aims as term president of the Council of Europe would be to strive for a "Europe free of the death penalty" and to promote human rights, the Italian Foreign Secretary Umberto Ranieri said
- MAY 23, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The (opposition) AN parliamentary group leader Gustavo...
The (opposition) AN parliamentary group leader Gustavo Selva invited the Italian government to take a firm stand condemning China's attitude to the death penalty
- MAY 5, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Senate Vice-President Ersilia Salvato discussed the...
Senate Vice-President Ersilia Salvato discussed the role of European parliaments in urging a moratorium on executions with representatives of the Portuguese, Austrian, Spanish and Belgian parliaments
- APRIL 29, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italian reggae group Africa Unite backed a campaign...
Italian reggae group Africa Unite backed a campaign to gather signatures in favour of a global moratorium on the death penalty by the end of 2000
- APRIL 26, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Italy co-sponsored and voted in favour of the resolution...
Italy co-sponsored and voted in favour of the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission for Human Rights on April 26, 2000
- APRIL 26, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The UN Human Rights Commission approved a resolution...
The UN Human Rights Commission approved a resolution in favour of a worldwide moratorium on capital punishment proposed by the EU term president Portugal
- APRIL 11, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Tuscan MPs Fabrizio Vigni and Mauro Vannoni visited...
The Tuscan MPs Fabrizio Vigni and Mauro Vannoni visited death row inmate Rocco Derek Barnabei in Virginia
- APRIL 10, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Socialist International appointed the leader of...
The Socialist International appointed the leader of the Democratici di Sinistra (democratic left party, DS) Walter Veltroni, to head the campaign against the death penalty
- APRIL 5, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Government and opposition senators handed an appeal...
Government and opposition senators handed an appeal to the Iranian president Mohammed Khatami not to impose the death penalty on 13 Iranian Jews on trial on charges of spying for Israel in Teheran
- MARCH 30, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Vice-President of the Italian Senate, Ersilia Salvato,...
The Vice-President of the Italian Senate, Ersilia Salvato, discussed the abolition of the death penalty with the newly-elected president of the French National Assembly Raymond Forni
- MARCH 30, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Chamber of Deputies approved unanimously a motion...
The Chamber of Deputies approved unanimously a motion that bound the government to steer the EU to present a new resolution for the abolition of the death penalty at the Commission for Human Rights
- MARCH 17, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Senate approved a motion by its Vice-President...
The Senate approved a motion by its Vice-President Ersilia Salvato urging the government to steer the EU towards proposing a new resolution on the death penalty at the UN Commission for Human Rights
- MARCH 16, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
CCD chairman Pier Ferdinando Casini met a delegation...
CCD chairman Pier Ferdinando Casini met a delegation of Cuban anti-Castro exiles
- FEBRUARY 23, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Twenty four lady senators from different Italian political...
Twenty four lady senators from different Italian political formations invited New York senatorial candidate Hilary Clinton to rethink her stand in favour of the death penalty
- FEBRUARY 17, 2000ItalyDEATH PENALTY
The Benetton group said it would continue its advertising...
The Benetton group said it would continue its advertising campaign featuring death row convicts despite the American store chain Sears' decision to take the Benetton brand off its shelves