Italian Supreme Court of Cassation, Criminal Section VI, No. 19674/14, 19 March 2014

Relevance of cultural factors as a justification for crimes against family members.

Art. 3 Italian Constitution
Art. 572 Italian criminal code

Any claims related to the exercise of particular powers towards family members or specific customs, habits and internal connotations in family groups that constitute the result of concepts in absolute contrast with the principles and rules that underlie the 'Italian legal system and the concrete regulation of interpersonal relationships, cannot justify the crime of domestic violence. Indeed, the fundamental rights of the human being, both as an individual and in social groups (to which the family must certainly be ascribed) as well as the principle of equality and equal social dignity represent an insurmountable barrier to the introduction into civil society of customs or practices which are absolutely incompatible with it.