Twelve years after Law 81/2014 in Italy: how dangerous is social dangerousness? For a radical choice.-

Twelve years after promulgation of Law 81/2014 in Italy, which decreed the closure of judicial psychiatric hospitals and the establishment of Residences for the Execution of Security Measures—thereby promoting a new treatment and rehabilitation approach for mentally ill offenders considered socially dangerous—it is necessary to take a stand regarding the “dual-track” model envisaged by the current Italian Penal Code (and many other international legislations) as well as the appropriateness of maintaining the concept of social dangerousness, since these are not scientific theories. In our view, it would be necessary to strongly align psychiatric interventions for mentally ill offenders to community-based treatments. It is cricial to promote close collaboration between justice, psychiatry, and local social services, definitely moving beyond the custodial model and its dual track, and to abolish all security measure of pretrial detention and the “guarantee position” of psychiatrists. It is a time for radical choices.