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La tutela penale degli animali non umani e la legge n. 82 del 6 giugno 2025

Dal «sentimento per gli animali» ai «delitti contro gli animali»

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Abstract

The chapter examines the criminal protection of non-human animals in the Italian legal system, with an analysis of the most relevant criminal cases, taking into account the different positions of doctrine and jurisprudence. Today it seems possible to talk about the rights of non-human animals, although legislative problems and contradictions remain, in particular with reference to the disparities in treatment between different species. In consideration of art. 13 of the Treaty of Lisbon, the amendment of art. 9 of the Constitution and the recent law no. 82 of 2025, it seems necessary to extend criminal protection in light of new knowledge in ethology and neuroscience.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: July 20, 2025 | Accepted: Aug. 25, 2025 | Published Dec. 18, 2025 | Language: it

Keywords Criminal law and non-human animals • Animal welfare and rights • Law 82/2025 • Article 9 Italian Constitution • Animal rights

Copyright © 2025 Monica Gazzola. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


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