00815 - Criminal Procedure (P-Z)

Learning outcomes

Shaping the feeling about the individual rights threatened or limited in the criminal process.
Getting the basic concepts of the criminal justice system.
Sharping the logic and reasoning aptitude regarding the functions of the parties as well as the judge in criminal cases.

Course contents

First Half

Criminal justice in the italian political system. Criminal procedure as "constitutional law in action". Connections between criminal law and criminal procedure. Models of criminal process: inquisitorial and adversarial; due process model and social control model. International conventions and criminal procedure.

Basic rights and criminal process: personal liberty, sacredness of the home, freedom and confidentiality of correspondence, right to counsel, right to a judge previously ascertained by law, presomption of innocence, principle of adversary hearings, publicity of the trial.

The judicial branch. The organisation of the italian judiciary. Police, public prosecution, judges and criminal courts.

The subjects of the criminal process and related functions: jurisdiction and competence. Prosecution, defence, judgment.

Judicial activities and related legal treatment of invalidity (inadmissibility, nullity, exclusion of evidence).

Theorie of evidence. General dispositions. The different evidence: testimony, expert witness, recognition. The secure of evidence: search and seizure, wiretapping and electronic surveillance.

Second half

Steps of the italian criminal justice system.
Police and prosecutorial investigations.
Preliminary hearing.
Preventive detention and related proceeding.
Speedy trial and others prompt dispositions.
Trial and sentencing.
Compensation for damages: the relation between civil action and criminal process.
Judicial remedies: appeal, cassation, post conviction review.
The effect of the sentence: ne bis in idem; effect to others trials.

Readings/Bibliography

R. ORLANDI, L'organizzazione della giustizia penale, in P. BIAVATI, C. GUARNIERI, R. ORLANDI. N. ZANON, La giustizia civile e penale in Italia, il Mulino, Bologna 2008, IV Part, Chapt. 16-19, p. 199-259.
For a better understanding of the matter it is advisable to read the essays of C. GUARNIERI (I Part, Chapt. 1-4) and N. ZANON (II Part., Chapt. 5-10) .

Compendio di procedura penale, a cura di G. CONSO e V. GREVI, Cedam, Padova, 2014.

• Introduzione di Giovanni Conso, p. p. XXVII-XXXVI
• Il sistema delle <<fonti>> del diritto processuale penale di Angelo Giarda, p. XLIII-LX
• Cap. I – I soggetti – (§§ 1, 2, 4-13, 17-30, 32, 34, 35, 39, 43)
• Cap. II – Gli atti – (§§ 1, 4, 8-15, 28-34)
• Cap. III – Prove
• Cap. V – Indagini preliminari e udienza preliminare
• Cap. IV – Misure cautelari
• Cap. VI – Procedimenti speciali
• Cap. VII – Giudizio
• Cap. VIII – Procedimento davanti al tribunale monocratico (§§ 1-6)
• Cap. IX – Impugnazioni (limitatamente ai paragrafi 1-5, 9, 11-16, 18-24, 27- 33, 38-40, 42-44, 47-50, 54)
• Cap. X – Esecuzione penale (§§ 1-5)

Teaching methods

Reasoned commentary of procedural law. The legal rules will be examined and explained also in a case law approach.

Assessment methods

Oral examination. No writing test.
Who will attend the classes to the first semester will have the possibility to be examined in the winter session of examination about the part of the programm that has been carried out until december.
Propaedeutical examination: Criminal Law.
Civil procedure is not propaedeutical. However it is advisible to pass it bevor to stand Criminal procedure.

Teaching tools

Diagrams and other documents will be furnished to a better understanding of the theoretical explications. Every student can reach this records at the following address: http://campus.cib.unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Renzo Orlandi