Legal Medicine Notes

Italian Criminal System

• Criminal Law: Deals with crimes and punishments; offenses against the public, society, or the state (e.g., murder, theft).
• Civil Law: Deals with civil or private rights; injury or damage to property of an individual or private party through negligence.

Italian Constitution & Fundamental Rights

• Article 3: All citizens are equal before the law, regardless of sex, race, language, religion, or social conditions.
• Article 13: Personal liberty is inviolable; restrictions require judicial authority and must avoid physical and moral violence.
• Article 30: Parents have the duty and right to support, educate, and raise their children.
• Article 32: The Republic safeguards health as a fundamental right, guaranteeing free medical care to the indigent; medical treatment cannot be forced unless provided by law.

General Principles of the Penal Code

• Principle of Formal Legality: An act is only a crime if described in a previously published legal text ($art. 1 p.c$, $art. 25$ Italian const. Law).
• Principle of Non-Retroactivity: A law applies only to acts committed after its adoption ($art. 2 p.c$).
• Principle of Favorable Retroactivity: A law can be applied retroactively if it's more favorable to the offender ($art. 2 p.c$).
• Principle of Criminal Liability: Legal responsibility for voluntary actions/omissions resulting in punishment ($Article 27$ italian Const. law); liability is personal, and punishment aims at rehabilitation.

Preconditions to Criminal Liability

• Imputability: Capacity to understand and want ($Article 85 p.c$).
• Awareness of Penal Law: Ignorance of the penal code is not an excuse ($art.5 p.c$).
• Objective Liability: An act/omission is punishable if committed consciously and intentionally ($art.42 p.c$).

Cases of Strict Liability

• Unintentional/negligence act results in a more serious harmful/dangerous event than intended.
• Examples: Abuse of means of correction/discipline ($art. 571 p.c$), unintentional homicide ($art. 584 p.c$), abandonment of minors/incapacitated persons ($art. 591 p.c$).

Classification of the Penal Code

• According to Contents: Command rule, Guarantee rule.
• According to Characters: Imperative rule, Taxative rule.
• According to Species: Incriminating rules, Discriminatory rules, Declarative/Explanatory rules, Interpretative and Referral rules.
• According to Parts: Precept (rule of conduct), Sanctions (consequence of infraction).
• According to Types: Perfect rules (precepts + sanctions), Imperfect rules (precepts or sanctions).

The Crime

• Violation of criminal law associated with punishment.

Classifications of Crimes

• According to Intent: Intentional, Negligence, Beyond negligence ($art. 43 p.c$).
• According to Danger/Damage: Danger ($art. 622 p.c$, $art. 728 p.c$), Damage ($art. 582 p.c$).
• According to Act: Commissive ($art. 575 p.c$), Omissive ($art. 328 p.c$), Improper.
• According to Manifestation: Consumed, Attempted ($art. 56 p.c$).
• According to Subjects: Uni-subjective, Pluri-subjective ($art. 588 p.c$).
• According to Report by healthcare professionals: Common, Exclusive ($art. 365 p.c$).
• According to Report by general: Conduct, of Event ($art. 593 p.c$, $art. 361 p.c$, $art. 362 p.c$, $art. 364 p.c$).
• According to Prosecution: Prosecuted by Complaint ($art. 336-337 p.p.c$), ex Officio ($art. 330, 331 p.p.c$).

Elements of Crime

• Subjective element (psychological element & intention).
• Objective or material element (event).
  • Conduct: Action or Omission.
  • Causation: Necessary to prove antecedence, necessity, sufficiency ($Art. 40 p.c$, $Art. 41 p.c$).

Circumstantial Crime

• Essential elements: Essential for the existence of a crime.
• Accessory elements: Affect the seriousness and penalty.

Aggravating Circumstances

• Increase penalty ($art. 61 p.c$), e.g., acting for abject motives, using torture, abuse of authority.

Mitigating Circumstances

• Decrease penalty ($art. 62 p.c$), e.g., acting for moral/social value, acting in a state of anger, repairing damage.

Criminal Offences

• Crimes and misdemeanors distinguished by penalties.
• Crimes: life sentence, imprisonment, heavy fines.
• Misdemeanors: arrest and lighter fines.

Types of Punishment and Offences

• Principal penalties for crimes: Life imprisonment, Imprisonment, Fine ($art. 17 p.c$).
• Principal penalties for misdemeanors: Detention/arrest, Amends ($art. 17 p.c$).
• Accessory penalties for Crimes: Disqualification from public office, profession, managerial positions, etc. ($art. 19 p.c$).
• Accessory penalties for misdemeanors: Suspension from profession or art, management offices ($art. 19 p.c$).

Cases of No Punishment

General

• Causes of Justification: Consent of the entitled person ($art. 50 p.c$), exercise of a right/fulfilment of a duty ($art. 51 p.c$), legitimate defense ($art. 52 p.c$), legitimate use of weapons ($art. 53 p.c$), state of necessity ($art. 54 p.c$).

Special

• Omission of Referral/report ($art. 365 p.c$). Cases of non-punishability ($art. 384 p.c$).

Ending of Life/Disposing from Life

• Murder of the consenting person ($art. 579 p.c$).
• Incitement or assistance to suicide ($art. 580 p.c$).
• Aggravating Circumstances Life imprisonment ($art. 576 p.c$)
• Other aggravating Circumstances. Life imprisonment ($art. 577 p.c$)

Personal Injuries

• Beatings ($art. 581 p.c$).
• Personal Injuries: intentional personal injury ($art. 582,583,585 p.c$), culpable personal injury ($art. 590 p.c$).
• Homicide: intentional, culpable, preterintentional.
• Types of injuries : Very mild , Mild , Serious , Very serious.

Culpable Personal Injury

( $art. 590 bis p.c , (Serious or very serious road personal injuries)$)

Culpable liability

( $art. 590 sexies p.c , (Culpable liability for death / personal injury in health care settings)$)

Medical Certificates

• Requirements: Clarity, Completeness, Truthfulness, Protection of patient confidentiality, Secrecy.

Types

• Mandatory: death certificates, vaccination certificate, certificate of delivery assistance.
• Non-mandatory: Anamnestic Certificate.

Reporting of cause of death

• The declaration of death is made no later than 24 hours after the death, to the registrar of the place where it occurred / in the event that this place is unknown from the place where the body was deposited.

Secrecy and confidentiality ($art. 10 e.c , (secrecy of personal data)$)

Ideological falsity

• ( $art. 359 p.c , (committed by person exercising a service of public necessity)$)
• ( $art. 358 p.c , (Comitted by Person in charge of a public service)$)
• ( $art. 357 p.c , (committed by Public Official)$)

Ethical Deontological Code

( $art 3 e.c$)

( $art 4 e.c$)

( $art 13 e.c$)

• Off Label DRUGS

Emergency measures

($art. 700 c.p.c$)

Informed Consent

Age Estimation (diagnosis)

• AGFAD: i. Physical examination, ii. X-ray of the left hand, iii. Dental examination.
• Bayes Theorem.
• Radiologial examination of the clavicles of medial epiphysis
• Cameriere Method.

Thanatology & Age Determination in Cadavers

• Forensic Thanatology: Primary / Abiotic, Secondary or Necrological.
• Cadavetric Phenomena: Somatic Death (Systemic Death), Intermediate Death (Signs of Early Post-mortem Interval), Absolute Death / Decomposition. 1.COMMON or DISTRUCTIVE. 2. SPECIAL or CONSERVATIVE.