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.