Competency to Stand Trial in Italy

Abstract

This chapter assesses competency to stand trial in Italian Criminal Procedure, using a two-pronged analysis. First, there is analysis of the relevant provisions of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP). Pursuant to these provisions, the trial must be suspended in case the defendant is not capable of meaningful participation. The CCP also regulates various aspects connected to this incapacity. In particular, it sets forth the grounds on which the suspension must be granted and provides for the means through which the incompetency should be ascertained, if not immediately apparent. The picture painted by the Code is complex and many of these provisions have been challenged as unconstitutional in front of the Constitutional Court, with different results. The chapter focuses on such problems, in order to illustrate the approach of the Constitutional Court, as well as examining the solutions proposed by legal scholarship, including the definition of incapacity.