Pink crimes. Women’s crime and death sentences in milan (1471-1783) [Pink crimes. Criminalità femminile e condanne capitali nelle sentenze del senato di milano (1471-1783)]

This essay aims to focus on female crimes through the study of some manuscripts written by the members of San Giovanni Decollato delle Case Rotte congregation. The research concerns death sentences issued in Milan by the Senate between the 15th and 18th centuries. This essay contributes, firstly, to classify the main crimes committed by women, i.e. infanticide, witchcraft, homicide. Secondly, it allows us to dispel some recurrent stereotypes of gender crime and to acquire statistical data on the percentage of women convicted and sentenced to death. Last but not least, the stories of these women make it possible to reconstruct the cultural and legal environment of a city during an era three centuries long.