Permanent Disfigurement: The Court of Cassation Clarifies the Boundaries of the Aggravating Circumstance with Ruling No. 28637/2025

The issue of personal injury, and particularly those that disfigure a person's appearance, has always been at the forefront of criminal law, not only due to the inherent severity of such acts but also because of the profound repercussions they have on the victim's life. The recent Ruling No. 28637, filed on 05/08/2025 by the Court of Cassation, offers a fundamental clarification on the criteria for applying the aggravating circumstance of "permanent disfigurement" provided for by Article 583-quinquies of the Criminal Code. This decision, presided over by Dr. R. Catena and with Dr. M. T. Belmonte as rapporteur, declares inadmissible an appeal filed against a decision of the Tribunal for the Liberty of Catanzaro, but its headnote offers valuable interpretative guidance.

The Regulatory Context: The Aggravating Circumstance of Permanent Disfigurement

The aggravating circumstance of permanent disfigurement was introduced into our legal system with Law of July 19, 2019, No. 69 (the so-called "Red Code"), in Article 12, paragraph 1, which inserted Article 583-quinquies into the Criminal Code. This provision establishes a particularly severe sanctioning regime for anyone who causes another person permanent facial injury that results in deformation or disfigurement. The legislator's intent was clearly to more effectively protect a person's aesthetic and psychological integrity, recognizing the face not only as a body part but also as an essential element of identity and capacity for social interaction. However, the definition of what exactly constitutes "permanent disfigurement" or "deformation" has generated debate and various jurisprudential interpretations, necessitating clear interpretative guidance.

The Court of Cassation's Decision: Not Every Scar is Disfigurement

The core of Ruling No. 28637/2025 lies in its headnote, which specifies the essential requirements for a facial injury to constitute the serious aggravating circumstance of permanent disfigurement. The Court held that:

In matters of deformation of a person's appearance through permanent facial injuries, the facial injury, to constitute permanent disfigurement or deformation justifying the severe sanctioning regime provided by the norm, must produce not any scarring outcome, but an irreversible disturbance of the harmony and symmetry of the facial lines that affects its aesthetic-physiognomic function, compromising the victim's self-perception and that of those with whom they interact.

This passage is crucial. The Court of Cassation, in fact, excludes that a mere scarring outcome, however visible and permanent, is in itself sufficient to establish the aggravating circumstance. What matters is a