Self-defense in criminal law of Italy

Abstract

The subject of this paper is one of the most important criminal law institutes. The purpose of this institute together with its effect on perpetrator of a crime points out the significance of self-defense within contemporary legislation. It is well known that self-defense protects the law against non-law, that is, protects legal property of the attacked person against unlawful attack. Although our legal practice researches showed that generally we can speak of protection of the most important properties of every human: life, physical integrity, and property. Moreover, unlawful attack violates legal system, while the use of self-defense contributes to its reestablishing. But, did the legislator want to provide protection exclusively to the attacked person or legal system, without taking into account the interest of the perpetrator? Italian criminal legislation belongs to the group of countries that classify self-defense as reasons which exclude punishment, while the criminal law literature in this country accepts so called dualistic conception of self-defense.

Tema ovog rada je nesumnjivo jedan od najvažnijih instituta krivičnog prava. Na značaj nužne odbrane u savremenim zakonodavstvima, teoriji i sudskoj praksi ukazuje svrha primene ovog instituta i dejstvo u odnosu na učinioca krivičnog dela. Dobro je poznato da se nužnom odbranom štiti pravo od neprava, tj. štite pravna dobra napadnutog lica od protivpravnog napada. Naša istraživanja sudske prakse su pokazala da se najčešće može govoriti o zaštiti najznačajnijih dobara svakog čoveka: života, telesnog integriteta i imovine. Štaviše, preduzimanjem protivpravnog napada narušava se pravni poredak, dok primena nužne odbrane doprinosi njegovom ponovnom uspostavljanju. Ali, da li je zakonodavac želeo da obezbedi zaštitu isključivo napadnutom i pravnom poretku, zanemarujući interese napadača? Italijansko krivično zakonodavstvo pripada grupi zemalja koje nužnu odbranu svrstavaju u osnove koji isključuju kažnjivost, dok krivičnopravna literatura u ovoj zemlji prihvata tzv. dualističko shvatanje nužne odbrane.