Le punizioni corporali nei confronti dei bambini in Italia : alcune note

Differently from otherStates in the world and in the European Union, Italy has no general provision on corporalpunishment against children. In our country, corporal punishment is banned in schools, whileArt. 571 of the Criminal Code provides for the crime of abuse of means of correction. In 1996,the well-known Cambria judgement by the “Corte di Cassazione – Sezione Sesta Penale”stated that corporal punishment is no longer a legitimate disciplinary method on the basisof the right to correction (ius corrigendi). However, corporal punishment in the domesticsphere is not forbidden by law in Italy. This gap risks fueling a culture, also legal, whichdoes not consider corporal punishment as an inappropriate disciplinary means, completelynot compatible with positive parenting.

The article intends to reconstruct the legal frameworkon corporal punishment and parenting support policies in some European Union's MemberStates beyond Italy (Sweden, France, and Spain). The overall objective is to reflect on theItalian case. [Publisher's text]