Deradicalisation and Integration: Legal and Policy Framework

Italy/Country Report WP4 December 2021

Abstract

The report aims to investigate the Italian framework on radicalisation and assess responses towards the phenomenon at the formal institutional level and in praxis.
Italy does not devote any specific legislation to (de)radicalisation, instead relying on its counterterrorism agenda and provisions. This approach has led to a repression-oriented response rather than a structured preventive system. Similarly, no policies exist that address extremism or radicalisation through national and governmental plans. Thus, the institutional actors that deal with the phenomenon are the same as those involved in the counterterrorism network. Moreover, the decentralised structure of the state fosters asymmetries vis-à-vis responses and strategies at the subnational and local levels. Due to the case-by-case action carried out and the fragmented picture on the topic, a substantive role is played by the courts on the one hand and non-institutional actors on the other. Italy should rethink its whole approach, especially with regard to the need for a general and uniform legal framework, policies and practices.