Corruption, criminal laws and deviant discretion

Between 2019 and 2020, new anti-corruption laws were passed in Italy, highlighting, inter alios, the difficulty of identifying corruption, which is intertwined with the discretionary exercise of public powers. The author argues for the usefulness of socio-legal studies to identify ideal types of discretion and thus, be able to distinguish between deviant discretionary decisions from other type of discretion, permitted or even necessary, for the survival of the organisations. Finally, it is highlighted the importance and usefulness - within the framework of a scientific understanding of deviant discretion - of anti-corruption tools that focus on the self-regulating capacity of organisations (e.g. organisational models that limit corporate liability) and the internal structuring of the areas of discretion, such as the anti-corruption plans of public administration.