Cause "familiari" di non punibilità

[Autom. eng. transl.] For some figures of crime (crimes against the personality of the State, against the administration of justice and against property) the criminal code of 1930 introduced special non-punishable causes, favorable disciplines applicable to the offender who committed the fact towards a next of kin. The paper analyzes the justificatory basis of these regulations, highlighting the importance attributed by the legislator to family relationships. Following the enactment of the Italian Constitution of 1948, the reform of family law and new legislative interventions, the regulations on the subject were adapted in order to offer recognition to new forms of family. New family models and social and cultural changes that have occurred in recent decades call for reflections on the reasonableness of the provisions of the code and on their aptitude to offer adequate protection to the person, as an individual and in the context of significant personal relationships. In this regard, an important contribution was offered by the judgments of the Constitutional Court and by the interpretative activity of criminal judges, in the context of a constitutionally oriented interpretation of favorable criminal disciplines.