Sequestro e confisca dei proventi della criminalità organizzata nell'ordinamento italiano: linee evolutive, problemi applicativi e prospettive di riforma

In order to fight more effectively against the financing of criminal organisations, Italian legislation on confiscation was significantly modified during the eighties. Since 1982, in addition to the traditional confiscation regulated by article 240 of the criminal code, new criminal confiscation measures have been introduced to specifically combat organised crime. Furthermore, in that same year, the confiscation of ill-gotten gains can be pursued not only in criminal proceedings, but also in the so called ‘procedimento di prevenzione’. However, several obstacles hamper the implementation of these measures during the entire confiscation procedure, from the investigative phase, to the judicial phase and, finally, to the disposal phase. This essay presents an overview of the development of seizure and confiscation laws in Italy (section 1), and statistics on their application (section 2). It goes on to identify the main obstacles to the implementation of these measures (section 3), and proposes Irish civil confiscation as a ‘reasonable’ and ‘advisable’ model as a basis for the reform of Italian legislation (section 4).