Deep dives · Unknown offenders
How many crimes remain without a known offender
For most crimes reported in Italy nobody knows who did it, and where the offender remains unknown a trial does not even begin. A known offender, for that matter, is not a guilty one: it is the person named to the judiciary, which will decide.
How many crimes have a known offender
Where the offender is found, and where almost never
Crimes with a known offender per 100 committed and reported
Year by year, since 2014
Crimes with a known offender per 100 committed and reported in the year, in Italy. Each panel has its own scale; the light band marks the Covid years.
In the twelve big cities
ISTAT publishes the breakdown by type of crime only for the twelve most populous municipalities. To get stable numbers, the last three years are added together.
Table: the twelve cities, all types of crime
In which provinces the offender is known most often
Highest share
Lowest share
How to read these numbers
“Known offender” means that someone was identified by the end of the year, not that they are guilty: people identified later are not counted, and crimes nobody reports are not included. A high share can also reflect how much checking goes on, as with drug dealing and handling stolen goods.
How the numbers were built, and sources
What “known offender” means
These are the crimes committed in the year and reported by the police to the judicial authorities for which the offender, or at least one of the offenders, is known: because the victim named them, because they were caught in the act or because investigators identified them by the end of the year. The share is a first tally, lower than the final one; a crime with several offenders counts once.
Known offender does not mean guilty
The person named as the offender has been reported or arrested, not convicted: under the Constitution they are not considered guilty until the final judgment, and the trial may acquit them. These numbers measure how many crimes reach the judiciary with a name attached, not how many are punished.
Cities and provinces
The breakdown by type of crime exists only for the twelve municipalities with the most residents; for the provinces ISTAT publishes the share for all crimes combined. For the cities the crimes of the last three years are added together; for the provinces the shares for the same years are averaged. In Sardegna ISTAT counts crimes in the four historical provinces: the map colours them that way, on today’s boundaries.
Sources
For the method behind the whole atlas: Methodology and sources.
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