Italian Supreme Court clarifies rules on continuous crimes and complaints

The Italian Court of Cassation has issued rulings clarifying the legal application of continuous crimes (reato continuato) regarding criminal complaints and sentencing.

In ruling 23369/2026, the Court established that a criminal complaint filed for a specific offense does not automatically extend to subsequent offenses committed by the same perpetrator, even if those acts are unified under the principle of continuous crime. Because each offense maintains its own autonomy for the purposes of prosecution, a new crime committed after a complaint has been filed requires its own legal action to be pursued.

Additionally, the Court addressed the determination of base penalties in cases involving continuous crimes with homogeneous sanctions. A separate ruling (n. 16510) examined whether the base penalty for the most serious offense can fall below the statutory minimum when satellite offenses are involved, following a case from the Brescia Court of Appeal involving evasion and resistance.