Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 12
―New Religious Movement‖ is another term that has been used to designate the
phenomenon under study. For the purposes of this article, the three terms may be treated
as synonyms, although the reader should keep the definitional ambiguity in mind.
CESNUR 's research published in the Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy2 (May 2001) indicates
that there are at least 616 religious and spiritual groups active in Italy (including the
Catholic Church, Jewish Community, and so on). Among Italian citizens there are about
1.200.000 members of religious minorities, who seem to be evenly distributed throughout
the country. Members of new religious movements number about 700.000. If one includes,
however, those who sympathize with or are curious about these new movements, then one
could estimate that a larger number of persons are involved in major or minor ways with
these new movements. The groups with the highest membership are the Jehovah's
Witnesses (about 400,000 adherents), Scientology (about 80.000 adherents), and Soka
Gakkai (about 21.000 adherents).
Italy has not been affected by tragic episodes involving cults (such as the Aum Shinrikyo
gas attack in the Tokyo subway). But there have been a number of cases involving
homicide, suicide, and various crimes committed by members of various new groups. These
cases have stimulated judicial investigations, a few of which are going on now. Despite
these episodes and the recent tragedy of the Solar Temple in Europe, Italian public opinion
has not shown significant interest in this phenomenon, in part because of the massive and
constant flow of information coming from CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions).3
CESNUR tends to minimize these episodes, viewing them as marginal and sociologically and
numerically insignificant.
Given the public apathy about this issue, it was rather extraordinary that on April 29, 1998
the Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs sent to the Commission for Constitutional Affairs of
the Camera dei Deputati (the lower house of the Italian Parliament) a report by the General
Direction of Preventive Police dated February 1998. The report is entitled ―Sette religiose e
nuovi movimenti magici in Italia‖ (―Cults and New Magical Movements in Italy‖)4. In Italy,
The General Direction of Preventive Police coordinates the police intelligence activities. The
Interior Ministry appears to believe that there is a necessity to warn the public about certain
phenomena involving ―violence justified by faith.‖ Police in other countries of Europe,
America, and Japan have been unprepared for certain crimes related to cultic groups. In its
Introduction, this report considers the ―possible dangers and law-enforcement implications
of the activities of some movements‖ and affirms that if a group has a hostile or indifferent
attitude toward the principals on which civil order is founded, then the significance of its
actions for law-enforcement should be considered.
According to the report, such law-enforcement concerns may manifest in many ways:
1. The use of ―subliminal mechanisms of influence and so-called ‗brainwashing‘ or other
methods that limit the liberty and self-determination of the individual.‖ Regarding this
issue, the report affirms that there is much testimony and many investigations
conducted by police departments that attest to the fact that certain movements use
techniques that short-circuit the defenses of individuals, ―leading them into an uncritical
state of blind obedience.‖5 Note 13 of the report describes the process or the various
stages of thought reform. These are: ―isolation, indoctrination, and maintenance.‖
2. ―The interest seems to be more on the material wealth of the leaders than the spiritual
enrichment of the members […] it comes from the aggressive solicitation of
contributions and the sale of goods […] or various services (usually seductive
psychotherapeutic services or ‗self-improvement courses‘).” This section refers to cases
in which someone uses the religious character of his group as a pretext for accumulating
money, taking advantage of financial exemptions. If the profession of faith is ―an
instrument for realizing a profit, abusing the credulity of others,‖ then there are grounds

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 13
for carrying out official judicial or tax inquiries. It is, however, difficult to proceed
against would-be, swindling ―gurus‖ because of the reluctance of members to lodge a
complaint.
3. ―Hiding immoral behavior or illicit conduct behind an appearance that seems sometimes
to be beyond reproach.‖ In this case the report affirms that if a group of persons of the
same faith takes part in ―criminal commercial activities,‖ this can be pursued because
―… crimes connected to manifestations of the cult are treated as crimes common to all
the effects …‖
4. ―The propagation of doctrines characterized by strongly irrational elements that may
cloud the thinking of members and push them toward deviant behaviors that endanger
public safety.‖ This group of concerns, according to the report, arouses more worry,
along with Satanist gangs. Groups that seek to ―save the world‖ are less likely to dirty
themselves with criminal actions because they desire to win favor with the public. Other
groups, however, ―whose members, believing themselves the elect or the only ones
worthy of ‗salvation,' then to make their separation from others more radical, in order to
avoid `contamination,‘‖ they may organize with ―a greater probability of antisocial acts.‖
At this point the report raises the possibility that ―some fanatic, belonging to one or the
other type of group […] may decide to commit a striking act in order to send a message
to all of humanity.‖ This danger was especially felt in Italy and in Rome, the city in
which the Jubilee year of 2000 had a particular religious significance and importance
superior to any other city in the world.
5. ―The search for objectives different from those that are declared, if not quite of
subversive or destabilizing plans, then concealed under ‗religious pretexts.‘”6
Another important event occurred on November 12, 1998 when twenty Italian senators
posed some questions in Parliament (Senate of the Republic) about the Congregation of
Jehovah's Witnesses. They asked the President of the Council of Ministers and the Ministers
of the Interior, the Coordination of Civil Safety, and Finances ―whether the overall picture of
the activities of the Congregation, the strict compliance imposed on the followers with rules
which contrast with Italian law, the confidential nature of organizational, disciplinary and
financial data, and the prevailing obedience to internal rules in contrast to the rights of the
human person, family ties and duties towards society can constitute what in law is called a
secret association‖ and ―whether, therefore, whatever the articles of association may say,
the Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses can be called a religious confession or, rather, a
cult.‖7
The Point of View of Italian Law
I shall make a few brief comments on the abolition of the crime of plagio by the Italian
Constitutional Court8, which established the constitutional illegitimacy of Art. 603 of the
Penal Code. This decision eliminated the crime of plagio from those provided for under our
penal code. The jurisprudence tended to construe it as ―the creation of a psychological
domination, induced by suggestion…with a consequent redirection of the will, and, according
to some, the creation of a situation where the person was deprived of mental competence.‖9
In order to avoid misunderstandings concerning this decision, often quoted in relation to
crimes involving so-called ―brainwashing,‖ I have decided to make things clearer, using the
acts of the 1990 Conference on ―Socially accepted persuasion, plagio and brainwashing.‖ Dr
Pietro Sarteschi quotes part of the decision: ―A detailed examination of the various and
contrasting interpretations given to Art. 603 of the Penal Code in doctrine and
jurisprudence, clearly shows the lack of precision and definition of the law, the impossibility
of giving it an objective, coherent, and rational content, and hence the absolutely arbitrary
nature of its concrete application. It has rightly been compared to an unanchored mine