ELEMENTS OF PENITENTIAL LAW

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

000379L

Academic Year of enrolment:

2022

Year of supply:

2024/2025

Type of Course:

Elective Course

Degree:

Course of 1st Cycle Degree in SOCIOLOGY AND CRIMINOLOGY

Disciplinary Sector:

Criminal Procedural Law

Location:

PESCARA

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

TRAPELLA FRANCESCO

Cycle:

First semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

102

Prerequisites:

Knowledge of the structure and contents of the Constitution. Knowledge of the notion of “punishment”.

Objectives

ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE – In-depth knowledge of the constitutional and supranational principles for the protection of individual freedom and the execution of criminal decisions; knowledge of the rules governing the execution of criminal decisions; knowledge of the operating rules of penitentiary facilities and of the relationships between the authority and the individual in the phase post rem iudicatam.
ACQUISRED SKILS – The student will be able to apply the knowledge acquired as a function of their entry into the world of work, both for competitions in prison administration and to guarantee the necessary professionalism in assisting prisoners.
At the end of the course, the student will be able to use the legal knowledge acquired, placing it in relation to other knowledge learned during the degree course, conceiving the penitentiary phenomenon from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Contents

Starting from the Constitutional and supranational framework, the course aims at analyzing the rules guiding the execution of criminal decisions and the penitentiary regulation.

Extended Syllabus

The course illustrates the discipline of the execution of sentences involving deprivation of personal liberty.
The constitutional framework: inviolability of personal freedom; jurisdictionalization of executive procedures; right of defence; re-educational purpose of the sentence; recognition and guarantee of inviolable human rights; principle of equality; principle of legality; prison as social group (8 hours).
Supranational ideas: contributions from the European Union and the ECHR system; European penitentiary rules; “Mandela rules” (2 hours).
The execution of the sentence: res iudicata; execution order; suspension of the execution order; circumstances that modify the quantum of punishment during the execution; enforcement and surveillance proceedings (8 hours).
Life in prison: penitentiary and re-educational treatment; “normality” of prison life; individualization of treatment; proximity; elements of treatment (in particular, prison work); rewards and disciplinary sanctions; the protection of the rights of restricted parties (claims, jurisdictional claims, compensation remedies) (8 hours).
Alternatives to prison: permits, early release, conditional release, alternative measures (probation to social services, probation in particular cases, home detention, semi-freedom) (8 hours).
The evaluation of the social dangerousness of the inmates (2 hours).
Obstructive crimes; special intramural regimes (high-security circuits; “41-bis”) (6 hours).
Elements of juvenile penitentiary law (2 hours).
Business in prison: social enterprise; the organization of prison work; social cooperatives (4 hours).

Recommended Bibliography

ATTENDING STUDENTS.
1. A. Diddi, Manuale di diritto penitenziario, Pacini Giuridica, Pisa, 2024, pages 21-242 (chaps. I-VI), 273-392 (chaps. VIII-IX), 429-464 (chaps. XII).
2. Materials provided by the teacher.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS.
1. A. Diddi, Manuale di diritto penitenziario, Pacini Giuridica, Pisa, 2024.
2. A. Scalfati (eds.), Manuale di diritto processuale penale, Giappichelli, Turin, 2023, pages 987-1060 (part XIV, chaps. I-II).
All students must know the Constitution, the supranational sources, the penitentiary system and the execution regulation (Presidential Decree 230/2000) in the parts included in the program.

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

Lectures, seminars, workshops
aimed at acquiring the minimal foundations of legal interpretation and research, and useful initiatives to involve the student in aimed at involving the student in the solution of problematic issues.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

ATTENDING STUDENTS.
An intermediate written test (two open-ended questions), valid for 50% of the final grade; final exam (written): two open-ended questions (valid for the remaining 50% of the final grade).
The final evaluation may take into account participation in seminar and laboratory activities to the extent indicated to students in the presentation of the various initiatives.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS.
A written exam that will take place in the official exam sessions: 3 open-ended questions.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR ALL TESTS: 1. Knowledge of the contents and rules; 2. Ability to synthesize, connect and orient oneself among the sources; 3. Knowledge, understanding and use of specific language.
Erasmus students will contact the teacher to agree on program changes and specific exam methods.

Contacts/More Information

The teacher is available to support the students in the drafting of the thesis in Elements of penitential law. The student will have to analyse a problematic issue with the help of the jurisprudence and the literature.
The thesis will be assigned only after passing the exam.
Both during the exam and the thesis preparation, the knowledge of the rules and the student’s ability to orient himself among the sources will be verified.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

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