Research
Observatory on criminal and security legislation
The Observatory is developing a continuously updated database to track the numbers, types, content, and overall scope of punitive legislative acts passed by the Italian legislature. Additionally, it aims to publish an annual report on the evolution of criminal and security legislation in Italy.
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The Use of Force and Its Limits in the Penitentiary Context
The research, funded through PSR grants by the University of Milan, aims to explore the challenges surrounding the use of force in the prison system by gathering the experiences and perspectives of prison staff.
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The Determinants of Urban Security Policies
The project aims to identify the reasons behind the rise of increasingly punitive security policies over the past thirty years. Specifically, it empirically examines bottom-up models (policies as a response to citizen demands) and top-down models (policies as a tool used by elites to shape public opinion) to determine which is more explanatory of the Italian context.
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Police and Youth with Migrant Backgrounds in the San Siro District of Milan
The study investigates the relationship between young people with a migrant background and the police through a mixed-method research approach in the San Siro district of Milan.
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Book presentation: “Criminal Justice in Divided America: Police, Punishment, and the Future of Our Democracy”
Room 201 – University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono 5, Milan
Justice, reparation, and peace: a utopian path?
Casa della Cultura – Via Borgogna 3, Milan
Film Series “La Statale for Peace”
Main lecture hall – University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono 7, Milan
Two study meetings to mark the publication of the Correspondence between Paolo Grossi and Mario Sbriccoli (1962–2004)
Florence, Macerata and online
“100 Lessons for Peace”
University of Milan - Various locationsPublic spaces protection orders and the policing of sub-criminal behaviour
The article “Public spaces protection orders and the policing of sub-criminal behaviour” presents a qualitative study conducted in England and Wales, drawing on 32 interviews with local authority employees and police officers responsible for enforcing Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs).
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Twenty-Five Years On: The European Society of Criminology at a Crossroads Between Past and Future
From 3 to 6 September 2023, the 25th Conference of the European Society of Criminology took place in Athens, bringing together over 2,300 participants. While it was expected to be a celebration of the Society’s twenty-fifth anniversary, it was instead marked by dissatisfaction and tension, prompting deeper questions about the association’s representativeness, its democratic standards, and its ability to renew itself by giving voice to the new generations of criminologists.
Preventing Violence Against Women Between Compulsory Health Assessments and Public Shaming
The two central components of the Italian Bill 1517 reveal a profound sense of collective disorientation in the face of male violence against women. The legislative response appears to be an expressive and performative one, oscillating between preventive medical punishment and public shaming—offering little room for the layered, nuanced approaches that this deeply sensitive area of intervention requires.
The Invisible Side of Violence: The Challenges of International Investigations in the Digital Age
The update presented on 17 June 2025 by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan highlights the growing use of digital technologies in the investigation of mass atrocities. However, the complexity of conflict contexts, the spread of disinformation, and the inaccessibility of certain areas raise concerns about the "dark figure" of violations that go undocumented.
Social media as a space for (de)humanizing the Palestinian people
Referring to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the text offers a reflection on the role of social media as spaces for discursive resistance, emphasizing their power to counter dominant dehumanizing narratives and to give back visibility, voice, and dignity to those systematically marginalized by official representations of the conflict.
