Chapter IV   
The Role of the Public Prosecutor in Relation to the Execution of Sanctions
In the Italian system, the sentence can be executed only when the accused does not have the right any more to appeal against the judgment, apart from collateral attacks. It means that, even if the trial ends with a conviction, the sanctions imposed by the court cannot be enforced as long as the possibility to appeal is allowed to the accused. Before the final decision, the convict can be held in pre-trial detention when there are reasonable grounds to believe that he is about to escape.

The sanctions which can be imposed by court are imprisonment and fines; according to the legality principle, the type and measure of the sanction with which each offence is punished is fixed by the law on the basis of a range consisting of a maximum and a minimum. When the custodial sanction imposed by the judge has duration up to a maximum of one year, it can be substituted by the same judge with fines and other non custodial sanctions.

With regard to the enforcement of sanctions, it is necessary to distinguish between imprisonment and fines.
The task to promote the execution of custodial sentences is given to the prosecutor by the law, who is bound to its content and, therefore, has no discretionary powers. When the legal condition to execute a custodial sentence is met, the prosecutor issues an order which provides for the imprisonment of the convict. If several convictions have been pronounced against the same person for different offences, the prosecutor determines the total amount of the custodial sanctions which have to be served according to the criteria laid down by the law. The execution order shall be notified to the convict and his defense counsel.
If the custodial sanction is not higher than three years, the order of execution is suspended in order to allow the convict to request that the custodial sanction is substituted with a non custodial one. In particular, the convict can request to be entrusted to the probation services for a period of the same length as the sentence to be served.
The request of non custodial sanctions shall be forwarded within 30 days from the notification of the order of imprisonment. Then, the competent judge has to decide whether the conditions laid down by law in order to entrust the convict to the probation services are met or not. The probation is granted if the judge is satisfied that it is such as to allow the rehabilitation of the convict and to ensure the prevention of the risk of him committing further offences.
If the request of non custodial sanctions is not forwarded, or is not granted by the judge, the suspension of the execution order is revoked.
In any case, even if the custodial sanction is not higher than three years, the execution order is not suspended by the prosecutor when the conviction regards serious crimes, or the convict is being held in custody.
The prosecutor does not play any role in the control over the penitentiary institutions; with regard to this, the powers are exercised by each prison governor.
According to the Constitution (Sects. 87 and 89) a pardon can be granted only by the President of the Republic on the initiative of the Minister of Justice.

When the accused has been sentenced to a fine, the office of the judge who imposed it will issue an order which lays down the terms that have to be fulfilled. Even in this case the office has no discretionary power in issuing the order, which shall be notified to the convict.
If the order is not fulfilled, the judge’s office requests the prosecutor to start a proceeding aimed at replacing the fine with a custodial sanction. On the request of the prosecutor, the judge, once ascertained that the convict has no economic means to pay the fine, replaces it with imprisonment. With regard to this, one day of imprisonment is equivalent to roughly € 39,-.

A suspended sentence may be pronounced only if the penalty is no higher than two years imprisonment and three years imprisonment when the convict is a minor. With the suspended sentence, the judge may impose some conditions on the convict. In particular, in favour of the victim a compensation order can be imposed or an order aimed at eliminating the damages deriving from the offence.
The task to supervise compliance with the conditions imposed is given to the prosecutor, who will request the judge to revoke the suspended sentence if these have not been fulfilled.
Since the suspended sentence is pronounced when the judge is satisfied that the convict will abstain from committing further offences, it is revoked if the convict commits an offence afterwards. It is also revoked if a conviction for a crime previously committed is passed against him, and the amount of the sanction imposed, added to that of the suspended one, exceeds the limit of two years. The request shall be forwarded to the judge by the prosecutor, and the first has no discretionary powers, therefore when the above mentioned requirements have been met, the suspended sentence must be revoked.