Breaking the Bloodline: Italy Enacts Landmark Law to Help Children Flee the Mafia

Italy’s Parliament enacted the “Free to Choose” law to expand a Calabria pilot into a nationwide program that relocates and protects children and mothers leaving mafia families, authorizes identity changes and cover documents, and provides counseling, housing, vocational training and workforce placement; the program reports removing over 200 children and dozens of women from mafia households, has persuaded some bosses to cooperate, and has prompted debate over revoking parental responsibility as a tool to prevent the intergenerational transmission of organized crime.