Italian criminal law terms explained in English

Readers who are holding an Italian paper they cannot read

Most people reach this page with a document in their hand, or on their screen, and a feeling that the words on it matter more than they can judge. The situations differ, but they have the same shape: a sheet of Italian legal vocabulary arrives and somebody has to decide what it means for them.

A traveller has been questioned at a police station, handed several forms, and sent away with a notice that has a heading and a stamp. The officer explained something, perhaps through an interpreter on the telephone, but what stuck was a word. The traveller now sits in a hotel or at home, abroad, and runs the word through a translation tool.

A relative has been sent a photograph of a notice by a family member who lives in Italy. The photograph is slightly blurred, the stamp is partly cut off, and the sender cannot say whether this is an accusation, an invitation to a hearing, or a request for information. The relative must decide whether to board a plane.

A person who lives in Italy has received a letter naming them as the subject of a case, but the letter uses terms that sound like the language of a trial when in fact the case is only at the stage of an investigation. The difference matters a great deal, and the Italian words that mark it are easy to miss.

An employer, a landlord or an immigration office abroad has asked for a record, and the applicant must explain what the Italian entry means. Misreading a word there can cost a job.

Decisions to make before you act on a translated word

A translation tool will give you an English word for every Italian term. The danger lies in deciding what to do on the strength of that word. Several choices arise together, and they carry costs.

Whether to trust a machine translation or to wait for a reading by a lawyer. Machine translation is quick and free, and it is often wrong in exactly the places where the law uses a term of art. A word may be rendered with an everyday meaning that sounds harmless or alarming and is neither. The price of waiting is a delay of a few hours or a day; the price of acting on a wrong reading can be a missed deadline or a statement that hurts you.

Whether to answer the paper immediately or to ask for time. If the document asks you to appear, to name a lawyer, or to reply, ask a lawyer what the deadline is before you do anything. A reply that is hurried and unclear may commit you, while a reply that is late may lose a right.

Whether to sign. Anyone who hands you a paper in Italian and asks for your signature is entitled to receive a request for a translation. Signing "received" is usually different from signing "agreed", but the difference may be invisible without help. The price of declining politely is a little friction; the price of signing blind is not knowing what you accepted.

Whether to tell others. Employers and relatives will want an explanation. Give an explanation only after you know the term, and say less than you know.

What to put in front of the lawyer when a document has to be explained

The fuller the picture you can give of the paper, the less time is wasted. Collect the following before you call, and send them in the original form.

• Every page of the document, photographed flat in good light, including the back of the pages, the stamps and any handwriting. A cropped image may leave out the line that gives the deadline.
• The envelope or the means of delivery, with the date on which the paper reached you. Time often runs from that moment, and the lawyer will want to know whether it was handed over in person, sent by post or left with a neighbour.
• The name and office of whoever issued it, as printed. Police station, prosecutor's office and court each have a different role, and the same-looking form can come from any of them.
• Any case number or reference, exactly as written, because it is the key to finding the file.
• Your own identity papers, in the spelling used on the document, and a note of any difference.
• Anything else you were given at the same time: a receipt, a leaflet, a form with boxes, a list of rights.
• Your notes from the encounter, written as soon as possible, including who spoke to you, in which language, and what you were told.
• Your machine translation, if you have run it, so that the lawyer can see what you have been led to believe.

How a misread word changes work, visas and family life

Italian procedural words are more than labels. Each of them marks a stage and a status, and the status follows you into everyday questions.

Employment. An employer that asks whether you are "under investigation" or "charged" is asking about different stages. If the Italian paper says you are an indagato, you are at the earliest stage, and nothing has been decided. If it says imputato, a prosecution has begun. Telling an employer that you have been "charged" when you are still only under investigation can cause damage that is hard to undo.

Visa and residence. Forms for visas and permits often ask about convictions and pending cases. An answer built on a mistranslation can later be called false. Check each word with a lawyer before you tick a box.

Plea and conviction. A patteggiamento is not a plain guilty plea in the English-language sense, but it produces a judgment and it appears on records. People who agree to it quickly, because a translator described it as "plea bargaining", sometimes discover the consequences for work, travel and licences only afterwards.

Time passing. A person who reads prescrizione as a rule that all will lapse with time may ignore a notice. It is a technical mechanism with interruptions and exceptions.

Family. A relative who hears that you are a "persona informata sui fatti" may panic or relax wrongly. The role is that of a person who knows something, but your position can change.

Questions to ask when an Italian document needs a plain explanation

These questions help a lawyer find the answer fast, and they help you see how the paper fits into the case as a whole.

• What is my status on this paper: a person under investigation, an accused person, a witness, or an injured party?
• Which office issued it, and what is that office's role in the case?
• What does the paper ask me to do, and by when? Does a deadline run from the date on the paper or from the day I received it?
• If I do nothing, what happens next, and can the consequence be reversed?
• Which terms on the paper have no true equivalent in English, and what is the nearest meaning that is still safe to rely on?
• If the paper mentions an agreed resolution, what would it mean for my record, my job and my visa, and for travel to other countries?
• Does the paper concern only me, or also a company, a relative or another person? Who else needs a lawyer?
• Do I need an interpreter at the next stage, and is the translation of the papers my right?
• Which documents should I never throw away, and which should I never sign?

Take the list to the call and tick the questions as they are answered. Papers written in procedural Italian often look alike, and a lawyer can only explain the stage reached if you can say exactly which paper you are holding and who handed it to you.

Habits that turn a language problem into a legal problem

The following mistakes are common among people who cannot read the paper in front of them. Each has an everyday reason and a practical price.

• Do not sign a paper because the officer says it is a formality. You are entitled to a translation of the essential papers. Ask for it and, if it is refused, write down that it was refused.
• Do not treat a machine translation as the meaning of the paper. It is a rough guide, not a reading, and it can turn the key word upside down.
• Do not assume that being "only a witness" is safe. A person who is heard as someone who knows the facts may later be treated differently, and statements made then can be used.
• Do not ignore the paper because it looks routine. Deadlines in criminal cases are short, and silence can close the door.
• Do not post the paper on social media or send it to a group chat. It may contain personal details and it may reach the other side.
• Do not paraphrase the paper to your employer from memory. A careless summary may be quoted back at you.
• Do not ask a friend who speaks Italian to deal with the office for you. A friend is not a lawyer, and what they say can be taken as your statement.
• Do not discard the envelope. The date and manner of delivery may be the key fact.

When the paper is Italian and the person, the family or the record is elsewhere

The words in this guide matter most when a case sits between several languages and legal systems. The practical problems are consistent.

Italian terms have no clean twin in other legal systems. The Italian procedure divides a case into stages, and an English-speaking reader who maps them on to the stages of their own system will make errors. The status of a person under investigation, for example, carries rights, but it does not mean the same as being charged in a system where the opening formal act is a charge.

When an Italian paper has to be shown to an authority in another country, an official translation is usually needed, often with a stamp or certificate attached. Do not prepare your own translation for this purpose. The same applies in reverse: documents from your country that you want an Italian office to rely on usually need translation and some form of certification of origin.

Notices sent to a foreign address take time. If you move, tell your lawyer. If a relative in another country receives the paper on your behalf, ask them to photograph it and send it immediately, not to summarise it.

Calls between lawyer and client should be fixed for a time that is workable in both time zones, with a back-up channel in case the line fails.

Your consulate can sometimes explain what kind of office has written to you, and may help with contact, but it will not interpret the legal meaning of the paper.

How the firm reads, translates and explains an Italian document

Send the paper by email to avvmassimoromano@gmail.com, or call the number on the contact page, and say in a line who you are and what you want to know. Photographs are enough to begin.

The lawyer reads the paper in Italian, identifies the office and the stage, and tells you in English what it is and what is asked of you. Where the answer is simple, it comes by message. Where it depends on the file, a call is arranged. The explanation always says which words were hard to translate and why.

The firm then sets out what has to be done and by which date. If an interpreter or a certified translation is needed, the firm arranges it, so that you do not have to find an interpreter under pressure.

Offices are in Rome, Milan and Naples. Meetings are held where the file is handled or by video call for clients abroad. Where you live in another country, the lawyer can act under a power of attorney, and the firm coordinates with a lawyer there if the paper has to be explained to a foreign employer, school or authority.

Communication with you is in English. The proceedings and the papers are in Italian, and each paper you must sign is explained to you before you sign it.

For papers that carry a short deadline or concern an arrest, the lawyer is reachable around the clock.

Italian words that cause the most mistakes

The terms below appear on this page and on most Italian criminal papers. Each is paired with the misreading it tends to attract.

• Indagato: a person under investigation. Not yet charged, and often not yet told what the file contains. Misread as "suspect" in the sense of an accused person, it sounds worse than it is, though it is still serious.
• Imputato: a person against whom a prosecution has begun. This is the stage at which a trial or an alternative route becomes possible.
• Persona offesa: the person who suffered the offence. The victim has rights in the procedure, such as being informed.
• Parte civile: an injured party who joins the criminal case to claim damages. The deadline to join is early and cannot be extended.
• Persona informata sui fatti: a person who knows about the facts. Must attend and answer. The label can change if what you say implicates you.
• Difensore di fiducia: a defence lawyer of your own choice, as distinct from a lawyer appointed by the court.
• Patteggiamento: an agreed penalty. It is not a guilty plea in the usual English sense, but it does produce a judgment and a record.
• Prescrizione: the lapse of the power to prosecute with time. It is calculated by rules with interruptions, and it is not automatic relief.