Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza

The Course is aimed to acquire both the fundamental elements of Criminal Law (referring to the “parte generale” of the Code) and the skills of interpreting the norms with a critical mind, using the historical, systematic and teleological methods.

At the end of the Course, students should be able, dealing with Criminal Law norms, to understand them, to pick out the peculiar elements of them, and to put them in connection with other norms, in order to achieve a systematic overview of Criminal Law. 

Teaching is carried out by face to face lessons in the classroom, for a total of 60 hours (9 CFU).

The required knowledge and skills will be tested by means of an oral examination consisting in questions related to the topics which were covered during the lessons and to those which are included in the suggested textbooks.

Preparation will be considered appropriate (final grades will be on a scale of 30) if the student shows correctness of legal language and skills of exposition and comment – with critical thinking – of the law norms of the “parte generale” of the Criminal Code.

Program

The Course will concern the “parte generale” of the Criminal Code; in particular, it will cover the following topics:

• Historical setting;
• Schools of Criminal Law;
• Constitutional penal principles;
• Principles of so-called “materiality”, “tipicity”, “offensiveness” and “subsidiarity”;
• EU Law and Criminal Law;
• Chronological sequence of penal statutes;
• Tempus and locus commissi delicti;
• Ignorance of penal law, law mistake;
• Apparent plurality of statutes about the same offensive fact;
• Definition and types of offences;
• Offence as a fact: behavior (action, omission), causality, related theories. Natural event and juridical event;
• The so-called “subjective” (psychological) element. Intentional wrongdoing, negligence;
• The so-called “unintentional” crime;
• “Objective” liability;
• Crimes made worse by the event;
• Mistake on the fact and mistake on non-penal law;
• Aberratio (ictus, delicti, causae);
• “Antijuridicity” and special illicitness;
• Fundament, structure and discipline of justifications (consent of the entitled person, exercise of a right, accomplishment of a duty, legitimate self-defence, legitimate use of weapons, defence of necessity as an emergency measure);
• Forms of offences: attempt, circumstances, plurality of offences, plurality of offenders in the offence;
• The offender;
• “Imputability” and mental capability (the so-called “capacità di intendere e di volere”);
• Exclusion or diminution of imputability;
• The discretionary power of the judge;
• The victim of the offence;
• Extinction of the offence and of the punishment;
• Juridical consequences of the offence;
• Damage caused by the offence;
• Social danger and security measures. Preventive justice measures;
• Profiles of the reform of the Criminal Code. 

References and suggested textbooks

Grosso-Pelissero-Petrini-Pisa, Manuale di diritto penale. Parte generale, Giuffrè, Milano, 2013;

or

Marinucci-Dolcini, Manuale di Diritto Penale. Parte generale, IV ed., Giuffrè, Milano, 2012, con addenda di aggiornamento 31 marzo 2014 (freely downloadable on-line);

or

Fiandaca-Musco, Diritto penale. Parte generale. VII ed., Zanichelli, Bologna, 2014.

For those intentioned to better investigate the subject, some more references can be suggested:

Gallo M., Diritto penale italiano, Appunti di parte generale, Vol. I, Giappichelli, Torino, 2014;

Gallo M., Diritto penale italiano, Appunti di parte generale, Vol. II, Giappichelli, Torino, 2015.