By Anita Bonfiglio (researcher at L’Altro Diritto), Maria Cristina Frosali (researcher at L’Altro Diritto) and Sofia Ciuffoletti (coordinator, L’Altro Diritto).
The Italian Constitutional Court partly upheld a reform introducing offence-based restrictions on access to a probation measure involving suspension of criminal proceedings for juveniles, accepting its application to some aggravated offences, but finding unconstitutional its extension to less serious cases. This reform, which represents a major shift from a rehabilitative to a more punitive approach to juvenile delinquency, with potential implication for juvenile detention rates
In a judgment published in December 2025, the Italian Constitutional Court largely upheld a reform introducing significant changes to the country’s juvenile justice system (judgment no. 203/2025, published on 31 December 2025). The constitutional complaint concerned changes made by Decree-Law no. 123 of 2023 (“Caivano decree”), which deprived juveniles suspected of aggravated sexual assault, murder or robbery, of eligibility for a measure of suspension of proceedings with probation.
Introduced in 1988, such a mechanism enables a court to suspend the criminal proceedings and place the juvenile under the supervision of the juvenile justice services for a probationary period, during which an individualised intervention programme is implemented. If the probation is successfully completed, the offence is extinguished. As underlined by the Italian association of professor of criminal law (ADPD) in its amicus curiae, the measure was applicable even to offences punishable by life imprisonment, leaving it to the juvenile court to make a concrete assessment of the suitability of the rehabilitative project. The 2023 decree represented therefore a major shift from a rehabilitative to a more punitive approach to juvenile delinquency.
The Court held that the legislature’s choice to exclude juvenile probation for some aggravated offences is not constitutionally objectionable. However, Court found manifestly unreasonable and disproportionate those parts of the decree extending ineligibility to “less serious cases” covered by the special mitigating circumstance under Article 609-bis(3) of the Criminal Code.
The reform, combined with other aspects of the 2023 decree, risks leading to an increase in juvenile detention rates. The ADPD stressed in this respect that since the 2023 decree was adopted, the number of detained persons in juvenile detention centres has increased by 50% (rising from 409 as of 30 June 2023 to 611 as of 30 April 2025), forcing the authorities to open a dedicated juvenile section within an adult prison.
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