Crime and criminal policy in Italy : tradition and modernity in a troubled Country

This paper investigates the development of criminology research in Italy and places it in the context of broader considerations of the country's policies on crime and criminal justice. An overview of Italian research on crime and criminology reveals the versatility of Italian literature and jurisprudence; it also indicates that `new' forms of criminality (such as white-collar crimes, sexual offences and the crimes of immigrants) are being discussed alongside the more traditional topics of murder, crimes against property and organized crime. Furthermore, this survey attempts to clarify why, in Italy, the level of public confidence in the criminal justice system is so low, despite the numerous recent reforms and the official crime rates, according to which Italy is within the European norm for most categories of offences.