SPECIAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Medicolegale 2019 December;139(1-4):21-9

DOI: 10.23736/S0026-4849.20.01785-X

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

“Beyond intention” crimes under the lens of medico-legal investigation: manslaughter and other beyond intention medical misdemeanors in the Italian jurisprudence

Michele SAMMICHELI ✉, Marcella SCAGLIONE

Medical Legal Department, Italian Institute of Social Security (INPS), Siena, Italy

This article analyses the Italian jurisprudential problems regarding ‘beyond intention’ homicide (manslaughter) and other medical misdemeanors of the same type. The first part explains the juridical thesis basing beyond intention crimes in the Italian Penal Code. Then, this part analyzes the Italian laws regarding these crimes in comparison with the laws of other EU and non-EU countries. The second part examines, from a forensic and medico-legal point of view, the investigations which must be carried out in order to assess this type of offence, specifically the estimation of the causal link (chain of causation) and the two basic elements of the beyond intention crimes: the psychological element and the objective element of the offence. The authors conclude with regard to the necessity of a combined medico-legal investigation that includes work, side by side, from forensic physicians, psychological and psychiatric physicians.

KEY WORDS: Homicide; Abortion, induced; Criminal law; Liability, legal