Il patrocinio a spese dello Stato per le vittime vulnerabili: un istituto soltanto di diritto processuale? Osservazioni alla sentenza della Corte costituzionale n. 1 del 2021

The Judgment No. 1 of 2021 of the Constitutional Court rules on the admission to the legal aid for the so-called vulnerable victims made by the art. 76 subparagraph 4-ter of the D.P.R. n. 115/2002 (called “Testo unico in materia di spese di giustizia”). This article briefly examines the constitutional foundation of this type of legal aid and explains why it could be considered not a processual institution (as the Constitutional Court did in the Judgment), but it is a substantial choice of the legislator to “promote” some victims respect other ones in consideration of their fragility, and this aim should contrast with the principle of equality. At the end, the Author highlights that the formulation of the art. 76, subparagraph 4-ter, should involve constitutionally problems in the part in which excludes from the admission to the privilege some victims potentially comparable with the admitted ones.