OME, April 24 � The case of two Milan jewelers who
chased, shot and killed a thief after he smashed their storefront with a
sledgehammer has touched off a national debate about where self-defense
ends and a new crime begins.
Prosecutors are weighing murder charges against the jewelers, and the
issue of their culpability has struck a social and political nerve here,
leading thousands of demonstrators to march under banners reading, "We're
with those who defend themselves," and prompting politicians to debate the
issue of whether Italian justice is too soft on crime and too hard on its
victims.
In a poll released Friday by the weekly newsmagazine Panorama, more
than 70 percent of those who responded said current law was unfairly
balanced against those trying to protect themselves.
Some of the harshest criticism has come from the country's justice
minister, Roberto Castelli, who said the penal code was "unbalanced in
favor of the criminal to the detriment of honest people."
The issue has surfaced at a delicate time for Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi, who was swept into office in 2001 in part on a campaign
promise to crack down on crime. He faces local elections in June that will
test his popularity.
The pointed guns now featured on magazine covers, the television talk
shows discussing the Milan case and the subsequent killing of a tobacco
vendor in Rome in a robbery � as well as studies showing a 10 percent
increase in all reported crime in 2003 � run contrary to the
crime-fighting image he is seeking to project on his election posters.
Mr. Berlusconi's political adversaries are already taking him to task
for not keeping his promise, but some of the most vocal critics come from
within his own governing coalition.
"Crime is high, and the punishment is too harsh for those who react
against it," said Alessandro Ce', a member of the lower House of
Parliament from the conservative Northern League, which is no stranger to
stirring trouble in Mr. Berlusconi's government.
This week, the Northern League, to which Mr. Castelli also belongs,
presented a proposal in Parliament that would severely reduce the legal
consequences under existing law for people who are prosecuted for using
what is considered excessive force to defend themselves.
Under the proposal, self-defense would be expanded to include the use
of firearms in protecting private property in one's home or place of
business. Agitation, fear or panic would also become acceptable excuses
for shooting an intruder, even if he was fleeing.
Although existing law condones extreme forms of self-defense, the rule
of thumb is that the defensive act must be in correct proportion to the
crime.
"If someone breaks into your home or store, how do you judge, in five
seconds, in the dark of night, what the correct proportion is?" Mr. Ce'
asked. "The presumption of innocence should go to the good citizen."
Some political analysts and legal experts have accused the Northern
League of trying to exploit voters' fears about rising crime to promote
their anti-immigration platform for the June elections. The thief in the
Milan case was an illegal immigrant from Montenegro.
"It's a typical electoral issue," said Luigi Arturo Bianchi, a law
professor at Bocconi University in Milan. "The Northern League wants to
show that it is tough on crime."
