Criminology

The Department of Criminology provides a theoretical background regarding international organizations, international terrorism and organized crime, conflict management, and human rights.

3 semester credits. In the 20th century the international community has progressively elaborated rules and procedures to state that certain behaviors are crimes and to ensure violations are punished acts. The course will provide an introduction to the birth, evolution, and contemporary challenges of human rights, humanitarian law, and the international systems to maintain peace or restore justice. It aims at offering an overview of the history of human rights from their appearance on the international scene to contemporary debates. Students will analyze the process of definition of crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, war crimes and genocide, and the mechanisms to protect humanitarian law, from the emergency logic of Nuremberg Trials after World War II to the institutionalization of International Criminal Justice and the various categories of humanitarian interventions: peacekeeping, peace-making, and peace-enforcing.

3 semester credits. This course aims at providing instruments of knowledge, analysis, and evaluation on the main international organized crime organizations as the various types of Italian, Russian, and Albanian mafia, South American Cartels, Chinese Triads, and Japanese Yakuza. Topics cover the identification of their historical, economic, political, and social causes as well as the factors that have produced and supported them and their contemporary markets. Students analyze the range of instruments and strategies to fight against illegal activities. An important focus of the course is to present the specific structural and phenomenological aspects of international mafia and criminal organizations and their role in global economies and politics, as well as a glance at some of the cultural languages through which these organizations have been narrated and represented.

3 semester credits. This course examines the relationship between gender inequality and the legal system. Topics include abortion, marriage, divorce, custody, equal pay, sexual harassment, rape, pornography, and prostitution. Students are introduced to basic legal research tools, such as statutes, regulations, cases, and legal literature. Bride kidnapping, also known as marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice known throughout history and around the world through which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry. Specific case studies will be covered such as the "fuitina" in Italy, which was a widespread practice in Sicily and the south. In theory and in some cases, it was an agreed elopement between two youngsters, in practice it was often a forcible kidnapping and rape followed by a so-called "rehabilitating marriage" (matrimonio riparatore). In 1965, this custom was brought to national attention by the case of 17-year-old Franca Viola, abducted and raped by a local small-time criminal, with the assistance of a dozen of his friends. When she was returned to her family after a week, she refused to marry her abductor, contrary to local expectations. Her family courageously supported her decision, and suffered severe intimidation for their efforts. Ultimately, the kidnappers were arrested and the main perpetrator was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The exposure of this archaic and intransigent system of values and behavioral mores caused great national debate. A 1970 film, "La moglie più bella" (The Most Beautiful Wife) by Damiano Damiani and starring Ornella Muti, is based on the case. Article 544 of the Italian Penal Code was amended only in 1981, when by law, rape could not be cancelled by marriage.

3 semester credits. This course discusses the origins and development of the Mafia in the context of Italian politics, economics, and society from the nineteenth century to the present day. It analyzes the nature of Mafia activities and their international relevance. Special focus will be given to judicial procedures against the Mafia and the experiences of key individuals and groups contrasting their illegal activities.

3 semester credits. This course focuses on mysteries and crimes committed in Florence, in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The course retraces significant historical episodes that shed light over the ways crime and punishment has been framed and dealt with through a series of academic walks in Florence. Topics include the fight between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the persecution of the ill during the Black Death, the Pazzi conspiracy against the Medici, magic rituals and with-hunting, the judicial system of the time, and the morbid stories about Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Donatello. A multi-disciplinary model is adopted to cross-analyze criminological, judicial, and social phenomena.

3 semester credits. The course explores some of the key criminal behaviors and the history of criminology in relation to episodes that occurred in Florence from the 18th century until today. Topics include the abolishment of death penalty in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the history of asylums for the criminally insane and the theories of Cesare Lombroso on physical anomalies, the massacres conducted during Fascism, the perpetuation of political homicides by terrorist groups, the investigations of the murders of the first Italian serial killer, Mafia attacks, the practice of murder-suicide, and hate crimes. A multi-disciplinary model is adopted to cross-analyze criminological, judicial, and social phenomena, with a focus on the ways criminology has evolved.

3 semester credits. This course presents the specific structural and phenomenological aspects of the various types of mafia operating in Italy and internationally. Topics analyze contemporary criminal, social, cultural, and political features of mafia-related groups and explore traditional and emerging illegal markets. The course describes main Italian and international law policies and legislations to contrast this type of organized crime and the experiences of leading individuals and groups developing a culture of legality to combat the mafia.

3 semester credits. This course is centered around Ferrante’s four-volume work known as The Neapolitan Novels: My Brilliant Friend (2011), The Story of a New Name (2012), Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2013), The Story of the Lost Child (2015). Lectures will investigate the multifaceted universe of a friendship between two women, Lila and Lenù, from their childhood to adulthood. It also aims to shed light on the connections between their experiences and Southern Italy’s complex history and culture from the post-WWII war years to the present. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the course will examine the protagonists’ effort to break out of the circle of extreme poverty, illiteracy, and male violence. Amongst the themes addressed by this course through the study The Neapolitan Novels, students will explore issues such as post-war settlement in Italy and in the South, Italy’s Southern Question, the Neapolitan Camorra and its influence on the poor, the changing role of women during the Seventies, the “Economic Miracle,” terrorism during the “anni di piombo,” student movements in the late Sixties, Italian factory strikes throughout the Seventies, and technological advancements for computing machines.

4 semester credits. This course is centered around Ferrante’s four-volume work known as The Neapolitan Novels: My Brilliant Friend (2011), The Story of a New Name (2012), Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2013), The Story of the Lost Child (2015). Lectures will investigate the multifaceted universe of a friendship between two women, Lila and Lenù, from their childhood to adulthood. It also aims to shed light on the connections between their experiences and Southern Italy’s complex history and culture from the post-WWII war years to the present. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the course will examine the protagonists’ effort to break out of the circle of extreme poverty, illiteracy, and male violence. Amongst the themes addressed by this course through the study The Neapolitan Novels, students will explore issues such as post-war settlement in Italy and in the South, Italy’s Southern Question, the Neapolitan Camorra and its influence on the poor, the changing role of women during the Seventies, the “Economic Miracle,” terrorism during the “anni di piombo,” student movements in the late Sixties, Italian factory strikes throughout the Seventies, and technological advancements for computing machines. This class includes field learning hours. Field learning is a method of educating through first-hand experience. Skills, knowledge, and experience are acquired outside of the traditional academic classroom setting and may include field activities, field research, and service learning projects. The field learning experience is cultural; because it is intended to be wide-reaching, field-related content is not limited to the course subject but seeks to supplement and enrich academic topics. Students will have the opportunity to integrate theory and practice while experiencing Italian culture, art, and community within the Italian territory. Faculty will lead students in experiencing Italian culture through guided projects and field experiences as planned for the course. Field learning will be developed through classroom preparation, follow up projects, and guided learning outcomes. Field learning will provide students with the opportunity to develop skills and appreciate the multifold components of Italian Culture through direct experience. Field education will advance student learning as a relationship-centered process.