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CRIMINAL LIABILITY IN ITALY IN RELATION TO THE INNOVATIVE INSTRUMENT OF THE DNA DATABASE AND THE DNA TEST. SOME OBSERVATIONS IN RELATION TO THE BOSSETTI CASE
Abstract
The recent sentence of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation on the well-known case of Massimo Giuseppe Bossetti, in which thousands and thousands of genetic profiles were analysed, offers an occasion for a number of observations on the subject: on the one hand, on the genetic proof and its value in the Italian criminal process and, on the other hand, on the role of the DNA database which in Italy, in contrast to other European situations, as yet contains few profiles. In fact, even if active since 2017, it only contains around six thousand identity profiles. It is sufficient to observe that the English database contains around six million profiles and the German database 1 million. The search for the alleged perpetrator of a crime and sometimes - as in the symbolic case dealt with by the Supreme Court - the ascertainment of the criminal liability, also stem from a correct assessment of the scientific proof and this calls for the observance of essential and procedural guarantees. Nevertheless, for example, the uses of the certifications according to international standards for the accrediting of laboratories for carrying out genetic analysis and the rigid requirements contained in the rules of the DNA database, seem to act as initial important safeguards.
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References15
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Court of Cassation for Criminal Proceedings, Sec. I, 52872 of 12/10/2018. All sentences of the Court of Cassation are published on www.italgiure.giustizia.it;
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Data recently published in Corriere della Sera, 26 April 2018, page 18 with an article by Fasano;
Ibidem.
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