66454 - Theories of Victimization Processes

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to offer the students the necessary tools of knowledge in order to understand and operate on the "crime situation" with respect to the victim-offender dynamics. From this point of view, important are the theoretical and speculative cognitions as well as the practical ones. At the end of the course students are expected to be able to understand and manage with the complexity of victimization's dynamics, being able to recognize the relevance of their social and political roots in contemporary societies.

Course contents

Analysis and studying of the role of victims of abuse of power, iniquities, crimes within the social system; comparison with the international documents and EU recommendation on the position of victims of crime and abuse of power in the legal (criminal) proceedings; analysis on the role of sociology and social sceinces before victims of crime and abuse of power; distinction between needs and rights of victims in our contemporary society; consideration on the lack of structures specifically devoted to victims in Italy

Readings/Bibliography

Everyone is required to study the following books with regard to the preparation of the exams:

1) S. Vezzadini, Per una sociologia della vittima, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2012

2) C. Volpato, Deumanizzazione. Come si legittima la violenza, Ed. Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2011

Then, students are required to choose TWO among the following books focusin an attentive and in depth reading: 

a) AA.VV, I crimini di impresa tra negazione e riconoscimento - Studi sulla questione criminale, Anno VIII, n.1/2013

b) C.Cipolla, S. Vezzadini (a cura di), L'ambivalenza della in-sicurezza nei processi migratori - Sicurezza e scienze sociali, n. I/2013 gennaio-aprile

c) G. Ponzio, Crimini segreti. Maltrattamento e violenza nella relazione di coppia, Dalai editore, Milano, 2004

d) C. Ventimiglia, La differenza negata. Ricerca sulla violenza sessuale in Italia, Franco Angeli, Milano, 1989

e) R. Johnson, S. Vezzadini (edited by), Ultimate sanctions: life sentences, death sentences, and solitary confinement, n. II/2015 maggio-agosto

f) E.C. Viano, M. Monzani, Madre terra è stanca, Libreriauniversitaria.it, 2014

 

d) For ERASMUS students, the exam will consist in the preparation of the following texts:

1) N. Christie, "Victim movements at a crossroad", . Punishment & Society April 2010, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 115-122 disponibile al sito http://pun.sagepub.com/content/12/2/115

2) J. Van Dijk, "Free the Victim: A Critique of the Western Conception of Victimhood", International Review of Victimology May 2009, vol. 16, no.1 disponibile al sito hhttps:// pure.uvt.nl/ws/files/1122557/Dijk_Free_the_victim_091002.pdf

3) R. Letschert, J. Van Dijk, The New Faces of Victimhood. Globalization, Transnational Crimes and Victim Rights, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., Dordrecht, 2011.

Teaching methods

lessons and lectures in the class

Assessment methods

The examination is based on oral test.

Teaching tools

video and movies, lectures in the class, articles on specific topics

Office hours

See the website of Susanna Vezzadini