Kids who steal cell phones or steal jackets from other kids. Assaults, drug dealing. Worrying phenomena on which the efforts of investigators and investigators are concentrated.
In 2023, according to data released by the Police Headquarters at the beginning of the year, there were 360 minors between 14 and 17 years old were reported, with charges of theft or robbery. A growing number compared to 2022, when the complaints reached 240. The phenomenon of «baby gang», together with the infamous smash-ups at bars and shops, according to the Police report, in the province of Florence has «influenced the general increase in the crime rate with an increase of 11% compared to 2022».
The number of also increased by 8.59%. criminal files opened by the Prosecutor’s Office for minors in Florence: 2,061 against 1,898 the previous year. To these data must be added the civil proceedings (for example, those relating to the limitations placed on parental responsibility in the case of mother and father drug addicts or mistreatment in the family) which instead suffered a decrease in 2023: 4,684 against 4,864 in 2022 .
Nothing compared to the amount of work he will have to handle the new “single family court”provided for by the Cartabia reform which, unless extended, it will come into force on October 17th. The new court will be unique contact person for divorces, separations, interdictions and adoptions. Florence will be the seat of the district section which will judge with a panel of judges who will also have jurisdiction, on certain matters, over the other eight provinces of the Tuscan judicial district (not Massa which falls within that of Liguria). Then the nine district sections with a single judge will be added: Florence, Arezzo, Prato, Pistoia, Lucca, Livorno, Grosseto and Pisa.
But the reform risks turning into a tsunami for judicial offices, not only in Tuscany. «The single family court is a sacrosanct institution – explains the chief prosecutor Roberta Pieri, who arrived at the helm of the Prosecutor’s Office for minors in Via della Scala last Monday after having been a prosecutor in the same office for ten years – but the implementation of the reform encounters logistical difficulties: in Florence there are no adequate spaces to host the single court , there is a lack of magistrates and administrative staff.” Currently, two deputies work alongside the new prosecutor but there should be double that number. Overall staff availability administrative is 7 units out of 16, almost 50 percent.
«We must first increase organic plants. Since the beginning of the year, minors have arrived at the Prosecutor’s Office from the province of Florence over 1,500 reports, both civil and criminal, and we’re breaking even with registrations. With these scarce resources, it is worrying that we will not be able to guarantee the quality of the work for the thousands of cases that will arrive from all over the district.” In the midst of many difficulties there is a positive note: «Thanks to my colleague Filippo Focardi, the reference magistrate for innovation, and the chancellery staff, you have managed to the digitization of documents is fully operational in civil: we no longer use paper files. However, there is a lack of computerization that allows immediate connections with ordinary courts.”
