The recovery programme for minors and young adults who grew up in families linked to organised crime, born in Reggio Calabria, is about to become national law.
The apple never falls far from the tree, so they say. Sometimes, though, the wind, a downhill slope, or perhaps someone's hand can carry it far away – very far away. To safety. The Senate has given its final green light to the proposed law Liberi di scegliere, which for the first time introduces a comprehensive system of protection and support for minors who grow up in families linked to organised crime, drug trafficking or mafia associations, and who find the strength, courage and awareness to break free from them.
The family into which one is born and raised cannot be chosen: there are children who find themselves, from early childhood, caught up in dynamics of violence, intimidation or direct involvement in unlawful activities. But one can choose to leave, and the law stems precisely from this: from the recognition that these minors are, first and foremost, victims of a context that exposes them to serious harm to their physical and psychological integrity, even when they end up being actively involved in it.
The measure addresses a wide audience: minors who are children of individuals investigated, charged or convicted of mafia-related offences or drug trafficking; minors who are themselves involved in the justice system for the same offences; young victims of violence at the hands of criminal organisations; young adults up to the age of 25 who wish to distance themselves from these environments. And finally, parents who choose to do so together with their children. The heart of the law is the possibility of building genuine pathways out of these contexts. Personal protection measures provide, in the most serious cases, for transfer to protected locations and even a change of personal details, following the same model already used for justice collaborators to protect them from threats and reprisals.
But perhaps the most significant aspect, from a social point of view, concerns the support offered to those who decide to take this path: psychological support, access to education, job protection, vocational training programmes, a periodic allowance, housing, coverage of healthcare and relocation costs, as well as subsidised mortgages and free legal aid even for those who would not normally qualify based on income. This represents an important shift in perspective: it is not merely a matter of physically protecting a person, but of giving them the concrete tools to build a life different from the one into which they were born.
The proceedings will be managed by the public prosecutor at the juvenile court, who may act upon request or on their own initiative. Implementation of the measures will involve juvenile social services, local services and, for cases requiring a change of identity, the same structure within the Ministry of the Interior that handles justice collaborators. A technical-scientific committee, established within the Department for Juvenile Justice, will monitor the application of the law and report annually to Parliament. Assistance measures will last up to two years, extendable by a further year, and may be modified or revoked by the court depending on how the situation evolves.
The name Liberi di scegliere is no coincidence: it is the same name under which, in 2012, a pioneering judicial practice was born in Reggio Calabria, at the initiative of Roberto Di Bella, then president of the local juvenile court. The insight was as simple as it was revolutionary: after years of prosecuting, within the same proceedings, first fathers and then their sons for the same mafia-related offences, Di Bella came to understand that membership of the 'ndrangheta was not a choice but an imposed inheritance, and that these young people could be offered alternative life paths through measures restricting parental responsibility. From that first experience, a memorandum of understanding was born, extended over time to other judicial districts – today active in Catania, Reggio Calabria, Naples, Palermo, Catanzaro and Milan – which over the years has made it possible to offer a different future to around 200 young people and more than 30 mothers. The proposed law approved by the Chamber now transforms this local good practice, which grew organically from the courtrooms of a Calabrian tribunal, into a legislative instrument valid across the entire national territory.
