Decisions by two appeal judges to grant lighter sentences to men convicted of femicide have further exposed deeply rooted cultural stereotypes within the Italian judiciary system and wider society.

In the first case, a judge in Bologna ruled in early March that an “emotional storm” brought on by “unhappy life experiences” had motivated Michele Castaldo, 57, to murder Olga Matei, 46, a month into the couple’s relationship, and so reduced his jail term from 30 years to 16.

In a Genoa court last week, another judge, Silvia Carpanini, halved the prison sentence given to Javier Gamboa for stabbing his wife, Angela Reyes. Capanini said she sympathised with the “disappointment” and “humiliation” Gamboa felt when his wife failed to keep a promise to leave her lover.

Reyes’s lawyer, Giuseppe Maria Gallo, accused the judge of “resurrecting honour killings” in her reasoning. It was only in 1981 that Italy scrapped a law that gave more lenient sentences to men who murdered their partners if the woman had “dishonoured” the family with infidelity.

The Castaldo and Gamboa decisions were criticised by the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, who argued that “no emotional reaction, however intense, can justify or mitigate the gravity of femicide”.

Elena Biaggioni, a family lawyer, said justifying the actions of a man accused of gender-based violence was a “deeply rooted cultural problem that is particularly strong in the judiciary system” in Italy.

“While the jail terms are important, there needs to be more focus on how these decisions are reached,” she said. “In both of these cases, pity was shown for a man who killed a woman, yet judges don’t show pity in other murder cases, for example if the perpetrator is a mafia man. However, this type of decision is nothing new.”

Gender-based violence in Italy is roughly on a par with the European average, although the country has one of the highest femicide rates in Europe, with 123 women murdered in 2017, according to official figures. Since January, 13 women have been killed by their husband, partner or an ex.

Oleg Traclò, a lawyer representing the family of Alessandra Musarra, who was killed this month, said: “These men kill for the sake of killing. Nothing can justify these murders.” Musarra’s boyfriend is being investigated on suspicion of her murder.

Similar decisions have been made in rape cases. In 2017 an appeal court in Ancona cleared two men of raping a 22-year-old Peruvian woman partly because she looked “too masculine” to be considered a target of attraction. The justice ministry has opened an inquiry into the ruling after the supreme court ordered a retrial last week.

In February 2017 a man was acquitted by a Turin court of raping a woman on a hospital bed after the judge ruled the woman did not scream loudly enough or push the man away.

Biaggioni said: “It’s very common for judges to make decisions on ‘rape myths’ – such as she was drunk or didn’t scream or run away.”

While women’s groups have long battled against gender-based violence, there has never been an official government campaign. Women who report violence also often struggle to be believed by the police and their own families.

Luisa Rizzitelli, of the Rebel Network women’s group, said: “We don’t need any more laws, they are already there. What we need is a huge cultural change. Women need to be believed and supported.”