The “Security Decree” (No. 48 of 11 April 2025). An Authoritarian Drift in Italian Criminal Law?

On 9 June 2025, the Italian Parliament converted into law Decree-Law (decreto legge) No. 48 of 11 April 2025, commonly referred to as the "Security Decree". Presented by the Government as an exceptional measure to safeguard public order and security, the Decree introduces wide-ranging reforms across several domains of the Italian criminal justice system. This article offers a comprehensive critical analysis of the Security Decree. It asks whether it should be understood not as an isolated measure, but as a central element of a broader populist and illiberal reform project of the Italian criminal justice system-one that also reflects a wider authoritarian turn in contemporary criminal law policies across several countries. To answer this question, the article first examines the controversial approval process of the Security Decree. It then analyses its overall structure, rationale, and content before mapping the substantive criminal law changes introduced by the Decree. The analysis focuses on four key provisions that exemplify its underlying logic and objectives. Finally, the article reflects on the illiberal features of the reform and its affinity with broader authoritarian tendencies emerging transnationally in contemporary criminal justice policies. After the completion of the final draft of this article, on 24 February 2026, the Executive approved a second "Security Decree" (No. 23 of 2026), subsequently converted into law by Parliament on 24 April 2026. The article focuses primarily on the first of these decrees, hereinafter referred to simply as the "Security Decree". However, following its detailed analysis, the article also offers brief preliminary reflections on the more recent decree, as it appears to follow the same underlying logic.