Third Parties in Italian Criminal Proceedings

The present study analyses the role of ‘third parties’ in Italian criminal proceedings. The task is particularly complex because it implies a preliminary definition of parties and non-parties, and also imposes the examination of victim’s rights, by considering the victim as a ‘potential’ party. However, our analysis on the involvement of private persons other than the accused is mainly oriented to outline the safeguards attributed to them by domestic legislation in order to verify if these appear adequate to protect them from the detrimental effect of criminal proceedings.