The offence of personal injury does not depend solely on the presence of a bruise, a wound or a medical certificate. To understand what may happen, it is necessary to distinguish simple battery from injury, evaluate the type of illness caused and verify any aggravating circumstances. The duration indicated in the prognosis also matters, but it does not resolve every issue on its own.
I will explain which elements turn an assault into a personal injury, how the consequences differ between common, serious and very serious injuries, and when the complaint of the offended person is required. We will also see what must be proved and which issues may assume significance for the defence, avoiding the confusion of the initial report with a definitive finding of liability.
When Conduct Becomes Personal Injury
An illness of the body or mind must result from it. This is the element that Article 582 of the Criminal Code places at the centre of the offence: violent physical contact is not enough, but an appreciable alteration of normal bodily functions is required, accompanied by a process of recovery or healing.
A fracture, a wound requiring medical treatment or a clinically recognisable psychological impairment can constitute an injury. Momentary pain or redness that does not produce a true functional alteration may instead fall under battery as provided for by Article 581. The distinction concerns the effects, not simply the force of the gesture.
The medical certificate is important because it describes diagnoses, therapies and prognoses, but the legal classification belongs to the judicial authority. The duration initially foreseen may be modified by clinical evolution, while a short prognosis does not exclude a serious injury if there is, for example, a danger to life or a permanent weakening of an organ.
A causal link is also required: the illness must be a consequence of the contested conduct. Previous pathologies, subsequent accidents or reconstructions incompatible with the type of trauma can become decisive. Whoever accuses must also prove the attribution of the fact to a specific person and, in intentional injuries, the subjective element.
Common, Serious and Very Serious Injuries
The common injury provided for by Article 582 is punished with imprisonment from six months to three years. In practical language, people sometimes speak of very minor injuries when the illness does not exceed twenty days, and minor injuries for longer durations not exceeding forty days. These expressions help orientation, but they do not replace legal criteria.
The temporal threshold is not in fact the only parameter. A permanent consequence or a concrete danger to life can render the injury serious even when the course of treatment does not exceed forty days. Similarly, the number written in the first certificate does not automatically prevail over subsequent clinical assessments.
When the Injury Is Serious
The injury is serious if it produces an illness that endangers life, an illness or incapacity to perform ordinary occupations for more than forty days, or the permanent weakening of a sense or an organ. Article 583 provides for imprisonment from three to seven years in these cases.
Ordinary occupations do not coincide solely with paid work. The normal activities through which a person concretely conducts their life are relevant. Permanent weakening, on the other hand, does not necessarily require the total loss of function: a stable and appreciable reduction is sufficient, to be ascertained on a medical and causal level.
When the Injury Is Very Serious
The most significant irreversible consequences lead to the very serious injury. Article 583 considers, among other hypotheses, an illness that is certainly or probably incurable, the loss of a sense, the loss or inutilisability of a limb, the loss of the use of an organ or of the capacity to procreate, and a permanent and serious difficulty in speaking.
The envisaged penalty ranges from six to twelve years. The current text of Article 583 of the Criminal Code allows one to verify the individual aggravating events. The permanent deformation of the face is today regulated separately by Article 583-quinquies and must not be confused with the current list of very serious injuries.
When a Complaint Is Required and When Proceedings Are Initiated Ex Officio
The general rule is the complaint. Since 30 December 2022, Article 582 establishes that the common personal injury is prosecutable upon the initiative of the offended person. The amendment derives from Article 2 of Legislative Decree no. 150 of 10 October 2022, whose entry into force was postponed to 30 December 2022.
This means that twenty days are no longer the general limit between a complaint and ex officio proceedings. Even an injury with an illness exceeding twenty days can be prosecutable upon complaint, if one of the aggravating factors recalled by the law does not apply and the victim is not incapable due to age or infirmity.
Proceedings are instead initiated ex officio when the aggravating factors indicated by Articles 583, 583-quater and 585 apply, with the exceptions expressly provided for by Article 582. Serious and very serious injuries under Article 583 are therefore normally prosecuted without the victim having to lodge a complaint. Not every family relationship is sufficient on its own, however, because the provision excludes certain specific hypotheses recalled by Article 577.
A further case of ex officio proceedings occurs when the illness exceeds twenty days and the act is committed against a person incapable due to age or infirmity. The incapacity must concretely depend on such conditions: it is not prudent to automatically make this formula coincide with any minor or any person suffering from a pathology.
Legislative Decree no. 31 of 19 March 2024 coordinated the second paragraph of Article 582 with the special discipline of Article 583-quater, relating to certain injuries committed to the detriment of healthcare, social-healthcare personnel and other protected subjects in the cases provided for by the rule.
The Time Limit for Lodging a Complaint
The ordinary time limit is three months from the day on which the offended person had news of the fact constituting the offence, pursuant to Article 124 of the Criminal Code. The starting point does not always materially coincide with the day of the assault: the moment in which the nature of the injury is understood or the moment in which the possible offender becomes recognisable may count.
The complaint must express the will for criminal proceedings to be pursued. A narrative delivered to the authorities may not be sufficient if this manifestation is missing in cases where it is required. For this reason, it is useful to distinguish simple reporting, the report of an offence prosecutable ex officio and the complaint necessary to render the offence prosecutable.
What Must Be Proved
The certificate does not prove everything. It demonstrates that a medical professional detected certain conditions, but it does not necessarily identify the offender nor reconstruct with certainty the way in which the trauma occurred. Declarations, images, messages, lawfully acquired recordings, testimonies and medico-legal compatibility must be read together.
The reliability of the reconstruction also matters. Marginal differences may depend on the time elapsed or excitement, while contradictions regarding the place, dynamics, instruments used or succession of gestures can affect the core of the accusation. The evidence remains overall: there is no document that automatically replaces the judge's assessment.
In intentional injuries, conscious conduct directed at striking or in any case harming must emerge. If the damage derives instead from negligence, imprudence or lack of skill, the issue may concern negligent injuries under Article 590. An accidental collision and a deliberate punch can cause the same trauma, but they pose different criminal problems.
Severity requires specific proof. To support the permanent weakening of an organ, the danger to life or the incurability of the illness, it is not enough to generically recall the diagnosis. It is necessary to establish the clinical significance of the consequence, its duration and the relationship with the contested fact.
Possible Defences and Justification Grounds
Defending oneself does not mean always denying contact. The contestation may concern the identity of the author, the dynamics, the existence of the illness, the causal relationship, the intention, the gravity of the event or the presence of an aggravating factor. An injury can be downplayed to battery, traced back to a negligent act or result not attributable to the suspect, if the evidence allows it.
Self-defence provided for by Article 52 can exclude the offence when the conduct is necessary to protect one's own or another's right from a current danger of unjust offence and there is proportionality between defence and offence. The danger must be current: a punitive reaction carried out after the assault has ended does not become self-defence simply because it was preceded by provocation.
Reciprocal concurrence, affray and simple presence at the scene must also be distinguished. If several people strike the victim, the liability of each depends on the contribution provided and the awareness of the common action. Being present or trying to separate participants does not alone amount to concurring in the injuries.
The clinical outcome is not enough to convict. Even in the face of serious damage, the author, causality, subjective element and absence of justification grounds remain to be ascertained. The defence can also discuss the correct classification of the aggravating factor, which affects the penalty, procedural rules and available procedural choices.
The Choices of the Offended Person and the Suspect
The offended person must preserve the evidence without altering or artificially selecting the reconstruction. Health documentation, unaltered photographs, names of those present and communications linked to the incident can help understand dynamics and consequences. Necessary treatments remain a priority compared to the sole need to form evidence.
In complaint-based proceedings, the offended person can evaluate a remission, which must produce the effects provided for by law and be accepted or not refused by the defendant. A financial agreement does not automatically equate to remission and does not close the proceedings on its own. If the offence is prosecutable ex officio, the victim's will does not block criminal action.
Anyone under investigation must avoid pressing contacts with the offended person and initiatives capable of worsening their position. Options may include the request for dismissal, the challenge of the legal classification, an alternative proceeding or a restorative path, but prerequisites and effects change based on the offence concretely contested and the procedural phase.
Compensation and criminal liability remain distinct. The damaged party can request compensation for patrimonial and non-patrimonial damages, also by joining as a civil party in the criminal trial. Payment or compensation offers can have relevant legal consequences, but they do not automatically cancel an offence prosecutable ex officio nor guarantee a specific outcome.
What Consequences the Proceedings May Produce
The penalty depends on the classification: from six months to three years for the common offence, from three to seven years for the serious injury and from six to twelve years for the very serious one. Further aggravating factors, mitigating factors, modalities of the act, prior convictions and subsequent conduct can affect the penalty concretely determined.
These limits do not mean that every conviction automatically entails entry into prison. The chosen proceeding, the final measure of the penalty, personal conditions and any access to benefits or substitute sanctions must be verified in the individual proceeding. Not even registration as a suspect equals a conviction.
Before taking initiatives, it is advisable to collect in an orderly manner complete certificates, pertinent communications and elements capable of placing the fact in time. If you wish to understand the position of the offended person or the suspect, we can immediately distinguish the severity of the injury, the regime of proceedings and truly decisive evidentiary issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much time do I have to file a complaint for injuries?
The ordinary time limit is three months from the news of the fact constituting the offence. The starting point must be identified by considering when the offended person learned of the essential elements of the incident. If a hypothesis prosecutable ex officio applies, however, the complaint is not necessary to initiate or continue the proceeding.
Does a prognosis exceeding twenty days always entail ex officio proceedings?
No, not for an adult and capable victim. Following the reform that entered into force on 30 December 2022, the common injury is generally prosecutable upon complaint even beyond twenty days. Ex officio proceedings occur in the presence of the aggravating factors indicated by the law or, beyond such threshold, when the victim is incapable due to age or infirmity.
Is the emergency room certificate enough to prove the offence?
It primarily demonstrates the detected clinical picture, not necessarily the author and dynamics. It must be compared with declarations, images, testimonies, communications and any alternative causes of the trauma. The prognosis can also be reviewed in light of the course and does not determine on its own the classification as a serious or very serious injury.
Can I withdraw the complaint after an agreement?
The complaint can be remitted in permitted cases, following the envisaged forms and with the acceptance or non-refusal of the defendant. Private compensation does not automatically constitute remission. If the injuries are prosecutable ex officio, the agreement and the victim's will do not alone determine the closure of the proceeding.
Does provocation make the reaction lawful?
Provocation does not equate to self-defence. The latter requires a current danger of unjust offence, the necessity to react and proportionality. Insults or assaults that have already ended can affect the reconstruction and, when the requirements are met, the sentencing treatment, but they do not authorize subsequent punitive conduct.
Can the offended person also claim compensation?
Yes, damages can be requested in the criminal trial by joining as a civil party or, according to applicable conditions, in civil proceedings. Damage, causality and amount must be proved. Medical expenses, economic loss and non-patrimonial consequences require concrete elements and do not automatically coincide with the days of prognosis.