Pagina dettaglio corso numero uno

The research report “Police and social change: the challenges of ethnicity in contemporary Italy” and the related policy briefs drafted by the Research Unit of the University of Milan have been published as part of the project Police and social change: the challenges of gender and ethnicity in contemporary Italy, which examined the relations between the police and young people with a migrant background in the San Siro district of Milan.

On the one hand, the study analyzed the representations, practices, and professional cultures of law enforcement officers in their daily interactions with young people through semi-structured interviews with Polizia di Stato personnel. On the other hand, it investigated the experiences, perceptions, and expectations of young people towards control institutions through a survey administered in a high school in the San Siro neighborhood, as well as semi-structured interviews and focus groups with students and young people who live in or frequent the San Siro the area. The aim of the research was to contribute to the advancement of empirical studies on policing in Italy, a field that remains comparatively underexplored, while providing evidence capable of informing policies and practices aimed at reducing the risk of discrimination and criminalization of young people from ethnic minority backgrounds and enhancing the legitimacy of police action. The findings point to complex relationship, characterized by tensions and reciprocal misunderstandings that cannot be attributed solely to formal procedures or patterns of interaction. Rather, they are also shaped by the meanings that social actors assign to their lived experiences – both direct and indirect – as well as by their perceptions of fairness, neutrality, and respect in encounters with law enforcement.

The study, conducted over a two-year period, was carried out within the framework of the 2022 Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) and funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research through the European Union’s Next Generation EU programme, under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). The project aimed to examine the characteristics and adequacy of police responses to the challenges posed by social change – particularly with regard to the dimensions of ethnicity and gender – and involved the academic collaboration of three Research Units:

• The University of Bologna, coordinated by Professor Rossella Selmini (Department of Legal Studies), Principal Investigator of the project.
• The University of Milan, coordinated by Professor Roberto Cornelli (Department of Legal Studies “Cesare Beccaria” and Director of CRIMePO – Criminology and Public Policy Research Centre).
• The University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, coordinated by Professor Giuseppe Campesi (Department of Political Science).

For further information, please refer to the webpage dedicated to the project Police and Youth with Migrant Backgrounds in the San Siro District of Milan.