73G
ITALY
The Prctoii have jurisdiction concerning all delicts (delitti) yuiitshable by imprisonment not exceeding three months, or banishment not exceeding one 3'ear, or by fine not exceeding 1,000 lire and all misdemeanors (contraven- zioni). The penal Tiiljnnals have jurisdiction in the first instance in offences (delitti) (excepted the offences for which the Code establishing a minimum of five years punishable by imprisonment 'from ten months to ten years, or by fine exceeding 1,000 lire. The Courts of Assize, which in most cases have juries, have jurisdiction in all proceedings concerning serious offences (delitti) punish- able by imprisonment for life (ergastolo) or l»y imprisonment from ten to twenty-four years, or by minimum imprisonment exceeding five years. They have exclusive jurisdiction concerning offences against the internal and external security of the State, and all press offences. Appeal is allowed to the penal I'rilninals from the sentences of the Pretori, and to the Courts of Appeal from those of the penal Tribunals. The Court of Cassation has power to annul, for illegality, sentences passed by the inferior Courts, and to decide questions of jurisdiction or competency.
Italy is divided, for the administration of justice, into 20 appeal court districts, each of which is subdivided into tribunal districts, 162 in all, and these again into mandamenti, each with its own magistracy (Pretura), 1,548 in all.
Table showing the number of persons convicted ot offences of all kinds before the various classes of courts, during five years : —
Year
Convictions
Total
Before the Pretori
Before the
Tribunali
(first instance)
1 Before the Corti d' Assise
1892 1893 1894 1895 1896
370,305 324,509 370,144 360,289 377,448
297,343 249,008 290,515 278,658 293,106
69,616 71,853 76,112 78,027 80,997
3,346 3,648 3,517 3,604 3,345
The number of prisons or penitentiaries, with number of inmates, on De- cember 31, 1895, is given as follows : —
Prisons or Penitentiaries
Number
Inmates
Male
Female
Total
Lock-ups ..... Penal establishments Correctional establishments for the young :
Government reformatories .
Private reformatories . Penal colonies (Colonic di Coatti) .
Total
1,455 76
9 33
8
32,038 27,069
1,362
2,418 4,385
2,755 1,169
133 2,409
34,793 28,238
1,495 4,827 4,385
1,581
67,272
6,466
73,738
Pauperism.
In Italy legal charity, in the sense of a right in the poor to be supported by the parish or commune, or of an obligation on the commune to relieve the
