Crime in Italy ranks from low to moderate but is present in several forms, such as murder, sexual violence, corruption, and several more. Italy is most notorious for its organised crime groups, present worldwide, known as the Italian Mafia. These crimes are combated by the spectrum of Italian law enforcement agencies, composed of Carabinieri, Polizia, and Guardia di Finanza. Italy holds the 8th position in Europe in regards to the number of law enforcement per 100 thousand people with 453 units, compared to the European average which is 335. Although crime covers the Italian Peninsula, Italy holds some of the lowest toll of rapes and murders in the European Union. Out of 128 countries, Italy is the 40th safest country in the world.
Crime by type
Murder
In 2012, national murder rate was about 0.9 per 100,000 population, one of the lower rates in Western Europe. There were a total of 530 murders in Italy in 2012.
Homicides in Italy have decreased by 20% in the last ten years, with 0.6 murders per 100.000 people. In fact in 2017, 357 individuals were murdered in Italy, a number that decreased even further between August 2018 and July 2019, where 307 murders were registered.
In 2020, there were a total of only 271 murders, lower than 315 murders the previous year, and much lower than the 1,916 thirty years ago in 1991.
Organized crime
Many worldwide crime organizations originated in Italy, and their influence is widespread in Italian society, directly affecting a reported 22% of citizens and 14.6% of Italy's Gross Domestic Product. Public figures such as former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have been investigated for their association in organized criminal acts. War against organized crime caused thousands of murders, including judges (Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino) and lawyers.
There are several separate criminal organizations controlling territory and business activities: Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Campanian Camorra, Calabrese 'Ndrangheta, and Apulian Sacra Corona Unita. More than 13 million people are involved into crime web. Their business involvement is on a European and global scale. Particularly in Naples an unusual high homicide rate and several drug addicted people have qualified the town as the most dangerous in Western Europe.
Businesses, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, and craftsmen in these regions are expected to pay protection money. There is rarely any possibility of escaping payment, and those not complying find their business premises and lives at risk. People not able to meet demands might find their business partly or completely taken over by organized crime.
In 2009, organized crime in Italy generated $189 billion in revenue.
In 2020, there were only 28 murders related to the mafia, compared to an average of 527 murders between 1988 and 1992.
Sexual violence
Italy has a lower per capita rate of rape than most of the advanced Western countries in the European Union.
According to Police authorities data, the rate of sexual assaults per 100,000 inhabitants is significantly higher in the Northern region than in the Southern ones. In 2009, Lombardia and Emilia Romagna were the regions with the highest rate of sexual offences per 100.000 inhabitants (9.7); followed by Trentino Alto Adige and Tuscany (9.5); Piedmont and Liguria (8.6); Umbria (8.4). In this respect, all major Southern regions like Sicily (6.8); Calabria (6.5); Apulia (6.2); Campania (6,0) were the safest in the national territory, with the only exception of Friuli Venezia Giulia (5.1) in the North.
Fraud
Fraud is a major contributor to Italy's crime rate, with some level of fraud appearing in all sectors of the economy since the country's founding in 1861. Notable cases of financial fraud include the collapse of Parmalat in the early years of the 21st century, and the Lockheed bribery scandal in the 1970s.
Insurance fraud also dramatically increases the cost of insurance in Italy, with 115,646 incidents of fraudulent claims in 2001 alone, with 3.28 percent of all claims in 2002 ascertained to have involved fraud. The percentage rose above ten percent in some of the southern provinces.