Compared to 2018, discriminatory crimes declined in 2019 even though 3 out of 4 had to do with race. This is what emerges from the data of the Oscar, the Observatory for the safety against discriminatory acts. In 2019, the data say, there were 969 crimes, 2.6 per day, one every 9 hours, compared to 1,111 of the 2018 . The hate crimes that have to do with race are 726. For the Minister of the Interior Lamorgese "it is no longer acceptable that there are episodes of violence towards the different, which target race, the color of the skin, the sexual orientation. " The task of institutions and politics "is to make the country more inclusive" and to put a brake on "oppositions".
The numbers also certify an increase in physical aggression for racist and xenophobic purposes, which rise from 88 to 93. The monitoring of crimes, however, says the Observatory, suffers from two major problems: the lack of complaints - the so-called 'under reporting' - which determines an underestimation of the phenomenon, and the failure to recognize the discriminatory matrix by the police and other actors of the criminal justice system, technically called 'under-recording'. According to the numbers, which as of 2019 are not yet consolidated, 726 hate crimes have been recorded due to race, ethnicity, nationality and religion; 82, on the other hand, concerned sexual orientation and gender identity and 161 disability. The 969 registered crimes also represent a decrease compared to 2017 - when 1,048 crimes were recorded - but they still remain higher compared to the 736 counted in 2016. Going then to analyze the various types of crime, it emerges that the decrease concerns overall attacks physical (from 205 to 191), thefts and robberies (from 112 to 72), material damage (from 85 to 67), desecrations of tombs (from 188 to 147), attacks against places of worship (from 50 to 0), threats and threatening behavior (from 142 to 99). Incitements to violence, on the other hand, increased from 232 to 251, disturbances of public peace (from 61 to 96) and acts of vandalism (from 15 to 28). However, if the analysis moves on the reasons for the crime, the data say that if it is true that the physical attacks related to sexual orientation and gender orientation decrease (from 43 to 29) and those for disability (from 74 to 69), it is equally true that the violence that has to do with race, skin color, ethnicity, nationality, religion increases: from 88 in 2018 it passed to 93 last year. Fewer than 2017 (when 119) but higher than 2016 (28). And on the front of racism and xenophobia, incitements to violence are growing, from 220 episodes to 234, disturbances of public peace (from 49 to 91) and acts of vandalism (from 5 to 10). Among the crimes that have to do with sexual orientation, incitements to violence (from 5 to 12) and vandalism (from 3 to 18) have increased.
To curb the language of hatred, "too many episodes" of verbal violence, greater control of the network is needed. The Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese asked it, speaking at the conference "The victims of hatred". "The monitoring of the Oscar also concerns the web and I believe - underlines the owner of the Interior Ministry - that it is essential to maintain freedom of expression. But there is also the need for control so that, for example, no more cases are repeated like that of Carolina Picchio ". The task of the institutions, adds Lamorgese, "we have a moral duty to work on it and the key is prevention, which can do a lot. Also because intervening to repress means that something has not worked". (HANDLE)