Teaching code

4S01090

Academic staff

Lorenzo Picotti, Roberto Flor

Coordinator

Lorenzo Picotti

Credits

9

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

IUS/17 - CRIMINAL LAW

Period

1° periodo di lezioni dal Sep 30, 2019 al Dec 14, 2019.

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning outcomes

The subject includes principles and rules common to all offences or to some categories of them, pro-vided for by the Constitution, by the criminal code and by special legislation.
The course provides students with an “open” and critical vision of the penal system but, at the same time, particularly careful on the textual element that is most important in this particular sector of the legal order that envisages sanctions affecting, directly or indirectly, the personal liberty of the individ-ual.

Program

The course will be divided into the following parts:

1st Part: The historical and constitutional evolution of the Italian criminal law
• The limits of the punitive power of the State
• The Beccaria’s On Crime and Punishments and the origins of the European legal Enlightenment
• The differences between the “Classical School” (represented by Francesco Carrara) and the “Positivist School” (represented by Cesare Lombroso, Raffaele Garofalo and Enrico Ferri, among others)
• Comparison between the basic characteristics of the 1889 Italian Penal Code (so-called “Zanardelli Code”) and the 1930 Italian Penal Code (so-called “Rocco Code”)
• The criminal law reform projects and the influence of the Constitution of 1947 as well as the Constitutional Court case-law on the criminal justice system

2nd Part: The criminal legislation in a multilevel legal system

• Sources of criminal law
• Criminal jurisdiction and the ambit of criminal law
• The fundamental principle of legality (non-retroactivity principle, lex certa and lex scripta principles)
• The influence of the International and European Law on the Italian criminal law

3rd Part: Structure of criminal offence

3.1. Objective elements of the criminal offence (“Actus reus”)
• The concept and function of the legal good (“bene giuridico”; “Rechtsgut”)
• The legal good as criterion of legitimacy and limitation of the criminal law
• The notion of “actus reus” (“fatto tipico”; “Tatbestand”)
• The act requirement (active or omissive conduct)
• The wrongful result and the rules of causation

3.2. The unlawfulness of the act (“cause di giustificazione”; Rechtswidrigkeit”)
• Justification and excuse
• The rationale which justifies the self-defence and its recent reform
3.3. Subjective elements of the criminal offence (“mens rea”)
• The culpability principle (“principio di colpevolezza”; “Schuldprinzip”)
• The concept of intention (“dolo”)
• Negligence (“colpa”, “Fahrlässigkeit”)
• Preterintention and strict liability
• Ignorance and mistake of law

4th Part: The different forms and manifestations of the criminal offence
• The attempt
• Complicity and joint criminal enterprise
• Circumstances of the criminal offence
• Concurrence of offences

5th Part: The consequences of the criminal offence
• The “binary system” of criminal penalties and security measures
• The function and the general purposes of the criminal penalty
• The mechanism of deterrence and rehabilitation
• The accessory penalties and the causes of extinction of the crime

TEACHING METHODS

Language of teaching for this course is Italian. All literature and auxiliary materials are also in Italian.

For students attending classes, the course will be mainly based on lectures and slides concerning the basis and fundamental categories of the Italian Criminal Law. Workshops or seminars about specific topics or case studies could be organized during the course. The online registration to the University e-learning platform will provide students with a source of reference, bibliography, scientific papers and selected case-law.

The professors will provide support to students non-attending classes during the office hours (see the Law Department webpage). They may also register to the University e-learning platform and have access to a source of reference, bibliography, scientific papers and selected case-law.

Examination Methods

The final exam consists of an oral examination. Intermediate tests are possible, according to procedures to be established.

The final exam aims at verifying:

• the level of achievement of the learning outcomes previously identified
• the linguistic accuracy
• the argumentative, reasoning and problem-solving skills
• the ability to connect systematically the knowledge achieved

Students attending classes have the possibility to write a short paper on specific topics of the program, upon agreement with the professors. The paper will be discussed during the oral examination and will constitute part of the program.

Students not-attending classes and ERASMUS students are kindly requested to contact the Professors at the beginning of the course, in order to agree on the exam’s program and the parts of reference books to study.

Grades are awarded on a scale from 18 to 30, where 30 is the highest grade and 18 is the lowest grade to pass the exam. In case of an excellent knowledge, a high level of linguistic accuracy and an argumentative, reasoning and problem-solving capacity the candidate may earn the highest grade with “cum laude” honor.