Italy's law-and-order crackdowns under Meloni

ROME, Oct 20 - Italy will approve a package of measures on Tuesday aimed at strengthening law-and-order after days of unrest that have seen demonstrators clash with police, loot shops and vandalise property.The legislation is the latest in a stream of bills and emergency decrees toughening sanctions for protesters and other groups approved by Meloni since she took office in 2022.Here are some of the government's previous "security packages."RAVE/JUSTICE DECREE, 2022One of Meloni's first measures, the decree targeted illegal rave parties and other gatherings that could endanger public safety, with prison sentences of up to six years.CUTRO DECREE, 2023Following a migrant shipwreck off the southern region of Calabria, the decree created a new crime punishable with up to 30-years in prison, for cases in which death or serious injury results from illegal-migration offences.It also curbed migrants' grounds for "special protection" against expulsion, facilitated construction of new migrant reception and repatriation centres and extended the period of detention in them.CAIVANO DECREE, 2023Adopted after a high-profile case involving the alleged rape of two girls in Caivano, near Naples, the law broadened the scope for putting minors in pre-trial custody, and reduced the option of rehabilitation programmes after grave juvenile offences.It increased penalties for possession of weapons and for minor drug offences, and allowed disruptive young inmates to be moved from juvenile to adult prisons. It also made violation of compulsory-schooling obligations a crime, with responsible adults facing prison terms for failing to enrol a child.The decree triggered a 50% rise in the juvenile prison population, prisoners' rights group Antigone said in August.SECURITY DECREE, 2025The decree created new crimes and toughened sanctions in a range of areas including squatting, road blockades during protests and revolts in prisons and migrant detention centres. It also tightened rules on the revocation of citizenship following final conviction for terrorism- or subversion-related crimes.In four years under Meloni, Italy's prison population has increased by more than 17%, or almost 10,000 people, government data shows. REUTERS