National projects

Funding source - Emilia-Romagna regional funds  - "Misure a sostegno della cultura della legalità e della cittadinanza responsabile nel settore dell’educazione e dell’istruzione"

Scientific Coordinators - prof. Orsetta Giolo; prof. Serena Forlati; prof. Stefania Carnevale

Abstract (in Italian) - Il Progetto di MaCrOLab - Laboratorio di studi interdisciplinari sulle mafie e le altre forme di criminalità organizzata intende concentrare l’attenzione sulle vittime di reato e sulle specificità che la loro condizione – sociale, politica e giuridica – assume nel contesto attuale. Particolare attenzione sarà riservata al nesso tra le forme della discriminazione e la condizione delle vittime, al fine di indagare in modo più approfondito i danni specifici e le conseguenze del reato che i diversi tipi di vittime rischiano di subire. Fondamentale, in questa prospettiva, sarà il consolidamento della collaborazione avviata con la Fondazione emiliano-romagnola delle vittime di reato e la Rete Dafne. Il progetto di MaCrOLab intende proseguire la propria attività di ricerca, didattica e terza missione alla luce della proficua esperienza di collaborazione con la Regione Emilia-Romagna e rafforzando la cooperazione con le Prefetture, i Comandi regionali delle Forze dell’ordine e, in particolare, i Servizi sociali. Obiettivo delle attività proposte è avviare una riflessione partecipata e multidisciplinare sul ruolo dei diritti nel contrasto alle mafie.

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - Dr. Francesco D'Urso

Abstract - The national project V.A.L.E.P.L.U.S (Vocational Academic Law Enhancement - Project Law University Student), 2021-2023, brings together 40 Departments of legal studies of Italian universities and the Department of Law of Pavia is the leader. It carries out activities in the fields of orientation, tutoring and innovative teaching.
The GEO center (Youth, Education, Orientation) is also involved in the Project, which has always played an active role in the implementation of initiatives aimed at supporting the development of young people with a view to orientation and career support through research and actions coordinated between Universities, Schools and Public Administrations. The initiatives proposed by the partner centers aim to:
- promote knowledge of law and the legal method, and an informed choice of the course of study;
- maintain and possibly increase the number of enrollments in old and new degree courses;
- promote actions aimed at reducing dropouts, insisting on a better organization of tutoring and adequate training of tutors on strategic learning skills, with the development of innovative teaching approaches, also aimed at developing students' transversal skills;
- qualify the training path in reference to employment opportunities in the legal professions with the assistance of teachers, alongside legal professionals;
- develop actions characterized by an experiential training approach, with the introduction of Law clinics which, inspired by legal clinic education, offer university students the opportunity to actually learn the methods used in the legal professions.

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - prof. Silvia Borelli

Abstract - The EXPLOIT (Exploit-ed Labour) project deals with exploited labour and aims to develop effective policies for the prevention of the phenomenon.
As will be seen better later, it is an innovative project in terms of methodology (interdisciplinary, intersectoral and related to the entire national territory), subject of the research (multidimensional and multi-factorial approach to labour exploitation) and final results (video reportage and digital handbook).
Assuming that labour exploitation is not a residual nor a transitory feature of the labour market but a structural one, EXPLOIT tackles this phenomenon by applying an interdisciplinary methodology.
In this context, the 4 research units, coordinated by the University of Foggia, will pursue a double goal:
1) on one side, they aim at highlighting the structural factors causing exploitation and the contradictions of merely punitive policies designed for fighting against it;
2) on the other side, they will critically reflect on the capacity of labour law - as a normative result of its policies and in combination with other legal disciplines (criminal law, commercial law, private law, philosophy of law) - of guaranteeing an effective preventive protection against exploitation.
Although labour law and worker rights’ protection are central to this research, the choice of an interdisciplinary methodology confers to the research a dynamic perspective that involves a wide range of professionals and stakeholders and aims at elaborating tools and solutions to prevent and contrast labour exploitation.
EXPLOIT will combine the theoretical study of labour exploitation with case studies with regard to the sectors in which the phenomenon is mostly present in the territories covered by the various research units. To this end, the first 2 months of the project will be devoted to the selection of the relevant production sectors and, within them, of the case studies to investigate. In the following 12 months, the selected cases will be analysed, through quantitative/qualitative research methods, by the Research Units, acting in constant interaction with each other and exploring the dimension and the complex characteristics of the phenomenon. Starting from these first findings, policy strategies and legal sources on labour exploitation will be analysed, in order to assess their contradictions and criticalities in a logic of prevention (rather than repression) of the phenomenon.
The last 10 months of the project will be devoted to the preparation and dissemination of a video reportage and a digital handbook for the prevention of labour exploitation (hereinafter Digital Handbook), in which the outcomes of the research will be presented.

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - prof. Serena Forlati

Abstract - DignITA aims at assessing and strengthening Italy’s record in implementing international obligations to criminalize conduct prejudicial to human dignity. It will elaborate and advocate a coherent approach to the protection of human dignity through criminal law at the international and the domestic level, with a strong focus on dissemination activities that will maximise its social impact.
This will imply: 1) appraising Italy’s implementing practices in terms of both transposition and effective application; 2) developing and disseminating reform proposals, interpretive solutions and operative guidelines, duly considering the effects that international obligations display at the domestic level, the specificities of EU Law (which often implements and develops relevant international standards) and the applicable constitutional ‘limits’ and ‘counter-limits’.
The Project will detect gaps and difficulties originating in the (lack of) provisions criminalizing international and internationally imposed crimes as such, but also in other hindrances to their effective prosecution (e.g. obstacles relating to the general principles of the domestic criminal system, eg the definition of defenses and the statutes of limitations). DignITA adopts a strong interdisciplinary approach which is reflected in the project’s methodology (paragraph 2.2), with experts in philosophy of law, international law, criminal law and engaged stakeholders working together on three strands of research (as described in paragraph 2.3) that will:
1) Identify a concept of human dignity that is of specific relevance for international criminal law, by comparing and intersecting the broad conceptions often used at the international level with the narrow understanding that emerges from domestic criminal law, thanks also to the contribution of legal philosophers;
2) Map international and EU obligations that protect human dignity, in light of their original ratio and/or of their current interpretation, focusing on: (a) core crimes (genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity), and other relevant crimina iuris gentium, as offences against cultural property or internationally protected persons; (b) torture, enforced disappearances and
manifestations of transnational organized crime (not limited to human trafficking); (c) terrorism; (d) obligations to criminalize conducts that impact on vulnerable groups; (e) crimes related to business activities such as labour exploitation or agri-food crimes; (f) obligations implicitly set forth by international human rights norms;
3) Assess if and how Italy transposed the relevant international/EU obligations, especially by considering whether the domestic implementing norms adequately address the protection of human dignity in framing criminalizing provisions (e.g. as regards definitions and penalties), also in light of their interplay with the provisions of the 'general part', the rules on jurisdiction and statutes of limitation.

For further info:

• Project website - under construction

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - prof. Gianluca Gardini

Abstract (in Italian) -  L’Italia si posiziona al 20° posto in Europa per livello di digitalizzazione (DESI 2021), principalmente per la limitata diffusione di competenze digitali e per la difficoltà di accesso alle tecnologie avanzate. Ciò riguarda non solo l’industria e il settore privato in generale, ma soprattutto la Pubblica Amministrazione. Non è un caso, allora, che il Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza agisca in coerenza con le previsioni eurounitarie, individuando obiettivi concreti e misurabili per agevolare la trasformazione digitale delle Amministrazioni italiane (Italia digitale 2026). Allo stesso tempo, la Missione 1 del Recovery Plan italiano intende favorire la rivoluzione digitale nel nostro paese, per aumentare la produttività, l'innovazione e l'occupazione, garantire un accesso più ampio all'istruzione e alla cultura, colmare i divari territoriali, assicurare centralità al cittadino e al lavoratore all’interno della P.A.
Considerato l’impatto della transizione digitale sulle regole che governano l’azione della P.A., il gruppo di ricerca intende utilizzare un metodo multidisciplinare declinato secondo due modalità: 1) analisi dei diversi effetti della digitalizzazione secondo le sensibilità proprie del diritto amministrativo, del diritto privato, del diritto costituzionale e del diritto del lavoro; 2) confronto con esperti di altri settori scientifici (economisti ed informatici) al fine di rilevare i possibili bias normativi/economici/tecnologici che possono condizionare la transizione digitale delle Amministrazioni.
L’esigenza di un approccio metodologico multidisciplinare scaturisce, precisamente, dall’ampiezza degli ambiti interessati dai processi di digitalizzazione, dalla molteplicità dei soggetti coinvolti e delle responsabilità attivate, dall’eterogeneità dell’impatto sui diritti di cittadini, lavoratori, imprese e corpi intermedi.
La multidimensionalità metodologica si riflette, inoltre, sulla varietà degli obiettivi che il gruppo di ricerca intende perseguire: le attività delle unità saranno infatti orientate al conseguimento di due obiettivi orizzontali e due obiettivi trasversali.
Sul piano degli obiettivi orizzontali, il gruppo di ricerca intende esaminare l’impatto delle regole che governano la transizione digitale sull’attività amministrativa e sulle strutture organizzative pubbliche (Università di Ferrara), nonché sull’organizzazione del lavoro e sui rapporti lavorativi nella P.A. (Università di Trieste). A supporto del lavoro di ricerca delle diverse unità si affiancano poi due obiettivi trasversali, diretti a cogliere l’impatto della transizione digitale sulla protezione dei dati e, più in generale, sulla privacy dei cittadini (Università di Chieti-Pescara) e ad esaminare le ricadute dei processi di digitalizzazione sulla tutela dei diritti fondamentali in termini di cittadinanza digitale ed eguaglianza di opportunità (Università di Trieste).

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator  - prof. Marco Magri

Abstract - The project intends to investigate the effectiveness (in terms both of "deployment" of the project rooted in law no. 190 of 2012, and above all in terms of the ability to pursue the objectives of preventing illegality and improving the administrations entrusted to it) of the system of corruption prevention, more than ten years after its establishment. The central perspective of the project, however, is above all that which revolves around the concept of "integration": as an unavoidable challenge for a "systemic" reform such as that of anti-corruption, but also as a problem not adequately addressed and solved both in a general and sector perspective. Basically, on the one hand there is a solicitation for integration (plastically shown by the legislative decree 80 of 2021 which provided for the "integrated plan of activities and organization", but more deeply linked to the evident need to search for an "efficient legality), on the other hand the difficulties and shortcomings on this front, both in sectoral areas (such as that of the relationship between anti-corruption and other administrative measures to combat illegality and crime), and in reality, even at the regulatory level, are Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca expressly called for the integration of different logics and models (as is the case for companies under control, where "model of the law 190" and "model of the decree 231" coexist and more thoroughly public and corporate logics), as in terms of policies and regulations that struggle to to bring the different approaches out of their "isolation".The integration that is required, under penalty of loss of perspective and effectiveness, to the prevention of corruption is therefore, on the one hand, almost natural precipitated by an approach of strong interpenetration with the way of being and functioning of the administrations, called to ensure an efficient legality that incorporates other specific values (of the individual administrations) and "transversal"/"horizontal" values (such as environmental protection and sustainability, inclusion and non-discrimination), on the other an unavoidable condition for the prevention system to operate effectively without isolations that risk leading to marginality.

Founding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator  - prof. Enrica Martinelli

Abstract - The emergency caused by SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has forced governmental authorities – from all over the world and at different levels – to enact exceptional rules that have limited the fundamental rights of freedoms. These measures, initially considered as provisional, have been reiterated everywhere, raising a further question in terms of the sustainability over time of rules dictated to face an emergency.
This emergency highlights original profiles, due to its link with the issue of health. However, many legal aspects have already been partially addressed with reference to other emergencies, e.g. those determined by migratory flows, terrorism and war. The above-mentioned “emergency laws” are highly critical, especially when they do not strike a fair balance between guaranteeing security and human rights respecting.
The Russian attack on Ukraine reiterates the need for research on the emergency rules, and their connections to the religious implications.
This project is in continuity with the investigations already carried out by the DiReSoM research group (which has set up an international website committed to the theme Religion, Law and Covid-19 Emergency, and now also Law and Religion in times of war: www.diresom.net), and it intends to study, in an interdisciplinary perspective, how emergencies affect law-making and what their social effects are, with specific reference to the religious factor. Our main aim is to study the issues through comparative lens, focusing on both state and religious laws. Certainly, the solutions adopted by the states depend on different national constitutions and laws, but we think that it is possible to identify some elements of connection which can support – both from a theoretical and applicative point of view - the balance between the different rights at stake, and therefore help in the future to formulate emergency rules increasingly respectful of fundamental rights, especially of religious importance.
The project will be developed following four main steps. The unit of the Principal Investigator (Pisa) – in addition to play a role of coordination and synthesis – will study the rise of emergency measures in state legal systems, in order to analyze the impact on the religious factor. The Ferrara unit will particularly address the study of the health emergency and its implications from the point of view of the faith communities, with specific reference to the actions put in place by the Abrahamic religions in terms of contrast to the pandemic and war. The Messina unit will focus on the impact of the pandemic and the war on the rights of religious minorities, with a view to assessing the consequences in both legal and socio-economic terms. Finally, the Genoa unit will deal with the issue of migration, studying the impact of the pandemic and the war emergency on the interaction between public security, migrants reception and the religious element.

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - prof. Michele Pifferi

Abstract - The research project concerns an interdisciplinary investigation of two different methodological approaches to criminal law, namely the casuistic one and the rule-based one. These approaches, their reciprocal influences and intertwined developments, as well as their theoretical and practical implications will be examined diachronically, with reference to both past and current legal contexts.
The project will contribute to historicizing the assumption that a legal framework based on general rules and principles is logically more rational, guarantees law equality, and better corresponds to fundamental principles of criminal law such as the principle of legality. To do so, legal arguments, definitions, conceptualizations and systematic theories on crimes and punishments will be examined in relation to (and as an expression of) specific political projects and systems of legal sources. While, indeed, a casuistic approach was consonant with a pluralistic legal order such as the ius commune, granted its coherence and preserved its legitimation, the rise of the modern State led to a monopolization of the legislative power whereby more rational and principled systems of criminal law were needed. The project, on the one side, will contribute to rethinking the historiographical assumption according to which the transition from a criminal law system inferred from cases to one built around principles entails an undisputed rationalization and progressive legal evolution. Criminal law scholars, by resting on the outcomes of the historical research, will examine the current potential and repercussions, both theoretical and practical, of resorting to casuistic. Particular attention will be dedicated to the interpretive possibilities posed by a reversal of the cognitive approach, from a rule that is applied to the case to a case that defines the rule to be applied, with regard to both national and super-national legal contexts. As for the former, the crisis of the principles of legality and typicality and the related increasing impact of super-national sources make the functioning of the traditional code-based system ever more problematic. Within a system of sources that turned from being national-law-based and driven by the principle of legality into being pluralistic, characterize by inter-legality and significantly dependent on courts’ decisions, the project will examine the pro and cons of a return to the casuistic paradigm. With regard to both the formation of common principles of European criminal law and the current developments of international criminal law, the research project will investigate if and to what extent casuistry might be a reasoning technique useful to link together abstract rules and concrete cases and, therefore, contribute to the coherence of those complex multilevel legal orders by refining fundamental concepts such as legality or culpability.

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - prof. Daniele Negri

Abstract - The rise of new generation technologies allows for the gathering and the swift analysis of vast amounts of biometric data. Against this background, the research aims at proposing an adequate reform of the criminal law of evidence, striking a balance between competing claims: the protection of fundamental rights and the right to a fair trial on the one side, the investigation of criminal activities on the other. The legal system clearly struggles in keeping up with the latest technological developments but, in the domain of biometric data, the situation is dire: the lack of an adequate legal framework can produce unexpected, concerning consequences. In this domain, the technology is evolving fast and it can be particularly pervasive. For example, wearables and smart assistants can record biometric data; drones are equipped more and more frequently with facial recognition software to surveil territory, to identify suspects, to search for missing people. The tool has become quite common in practice in spite of the alarming lack of legal regulation and of the extreme fragility of the data that can be collected, stored and produced as evidence. In the overall picture of data that are available in the globalized world, biometric information is the most delicate sub-set: it can reveal the most intimate characteristics of an individual and they would deserve an enhanced protection. The tools that can gather them, moreover, are particularly intrusive of the nature of the information collected and the manner in which they can gather data. Drones can follow a predetermined target and identify it anywhere; devices that are materially attached to the human body can record a person’s reactions; AIs can record a person’s voice to execute commands: they are the most eminent examples of the variety of tools that technology can offer to this regard. Storage and cross-border exchange of said data show peculiar issues. Data bases are getting richer, more complex and interoperable at a continental level. Hence, issues concerning chain of custody, secure methods of storage and circulation have become urgent; The same goes for the legal questions that this architecture raises, such as the limits to the evidentiary use of data that have already been introduced in the system. Since gathered data are piled up in a huge trove of information that law enforcement agencies can access, the need has arisen for a comprehensive research on the normative standards that should regulate the phenomenon.

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - Dr. Maria Giulia Bernardini

Abstract - Nowadays, old age is considered the “new frontier of justice,” and the elderly are presented as new subjects deserving equal consideration and respect. Although this is sometimes pursued in an ambiguous manner (consider the difference in treatment between "active" elderly individuals and those deemed "non-self-sufficient"), the primary goal of multi-level institutions is to promote the visibility and inclusion of elderly people, ensuring they have the conditions to lead a dignified life and safeguarding their right to self-determination (in this regard, see what is stated in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan concerning the strategic theme of Human Wellbeing, under the cluster of Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society).
One of the areas in which this goal is pursued is spatial justice. Currently, there is a strong push to overcome the segregating logic that has long been adopted for the “management” of aging, often too hastily confined within the walls of social care homes. In a reversal of recent trends, multi-level institutions agree on the necessity of promoting deinstitutionalization and the inclusion of elderly individuals within the community. This goal can be achieved by promoting the implementation of the right to independent living (Article 19 of the UNCRPD), which necessitates ensuring that persons with disabilities – and, by extension, the elderly – have the right to choose where, how, and with whom to live.
Based on this approach, social care homes become residual housing solutions, while life in a deinstitutionalized context becomes the norm. To this end, institutions are expected to be “responsive,” meaning they must actively work to ensure the concrete accessibility of alternative housing solutions and the presence of services, mobility infrastructures, and supports. This involves concretely realizing the rethinking of welfare that has been discussed theoretically for decades, implementing alternative models to the family-oriented one, so elderly individuals can live in housing contexts of their choosing and maintain meaningful social networks.
The project – which combines theoretical analysis with empirical research and involves the active participation of elderly individuals and qualified stakeholders – is strongly interdisciplinary. Starting from a critical analysis perspective, experts in legal philosophy, administrative law, sociology, urban sociology, and urban planning investigate various aspects of the right to independent living in order to achieve two primary objectives. Culturally, the research aims to actively contribute to moving away from the predominately “medical” and segregating approach to aging, while also avoiding the “neoliberal drifts” that seem to underlie some theoretical analyses and many public policies. Furthermore, the project seeks to provide analytical tools that can be employed for the adoption of public policies aimed at achieving inclusive welfare, thus producing a significant impact on social and economic sustainability.

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - prof. Paolo Borghi

Abstract - Legislation does not contain definitions for plants with healing properties and their extracts, despite they have been known for millennia. Even if industrialization and synthetic compounds eclipsed the beneficial role of plants and products thereof, in the last years, their importance has been rediscovered. The development of the sector, however, can be hindered by a fragmented and incomplete legislation.
The objective of BEETROOT is in its title: “Building a comprehensive regulatory framework for plants with healing properties and botanicals, used as food, to boost public health”. The research activities aim at overcoming the regulatory issues that can limit the sector of plants with beneficial properties (like beetroot) and their compounds, from primary production to the placing on the market of final products, paying due attention to the theme of information to consumers. The project conceives business operators as its main beneficiaries. BEETROOT is thus product-centered: research activities will stem from the definitions (medicinal plants, botanicals, superfoods…) and progressively include the other regulatory aspects that concur in shaping the value chain and the governance of the sector (novel foods and claims for plants and botanicals, the qualification of processed products derived from plants with healing properties and of operators involved in such activities). Thanks to this approach, the project will mainly deliver guidance to navigate the practical regulatory challenges, while keeping an eye on the surrounding
framework.
The most important phase of BEETROOT is the dissemination one. Dissemination will reach different targets: institutions, academics and the public. BEETROOT is expected to have positive impact on:
● Health and consumers: a clear regulatory framework and a wider knowledge could boost products with beneficial properties, allowing consumers to choose the best for their health.
● Operators: clearer provisions can open new market opportunities, while avoiding incompliances.
● Academic research, involved researchers, and university: further research opportunities, career improvements and strengthening of relationships could derive from the project.
● Biodiversity and agrobiodiversity: conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants and botanical varieties are a precondition for the development of the value chain. A clear regulatory framework that enables a vital and sustainable economic sector can also have positive repercussions on biodiversity.

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - prof. Andrea Graziosi

Abstract - The project is divided into six units.
The Macerata unit deals with the protection of minors between rights and interests the University of Tor Vergata examines the profiles of competence.
The LUM University examines the unitary procedure of minors and families in the first instance judgment. It also examines the institution of family mediation as a tool for the out-of-court resolution of conflicts.
La Sapienza University will examine the appeal regime.
The University of Ferrara deals with the historical reconstruction of the procedural protection of minors.
The Turin unit deals with international and EU profiles.
All the profiles of the project constitute steps to find the best procedure in family matters to ensure the well-being of the minor.

Funding source - Ministry of University and Research

Scientific Coordinator - prof. Daniele Negri

Abstract - The project aims to analyze the contribution that information and communication technologies (ICT) canmake to improve criminal justice. The Covid-19 pandemic, the emergency legislation, and the subsequent reforms have considerably extended the application of video conferencing technologies. This raised a number of issues regarding the impact of the remote justice on three cornerstones of criminal procedure: the principle of immediacy, the right to the presence of the defendant at his own trial and the accused’s right be confronted with incriminating witnesses. In light of these principles, it will be examined, first of all, the videoconferencing technologies currently in use by the courts, with the purpose to understand their limitations and perspectives. Secondly, it will be taken into consideration not only the most advanced forms of video conferencing, but also technologies that can realize an interaction between the real and virtual worlds. In particular, the study will involve extended reality models such as Augmented Reality (AR), Augmented Virtuality (AV) and Pure Mixed Reality (PMR). In addition, it will be explored the possibility to create a shared Metaverse courtroom, where judges, lawyers,public prosecutors, witnesses, experts, and jurors could cooperate in a digital context. The study will be conducted with an interdisciplinary approach. In fact, the despatialisation of justice may have consequences even beyond the legal field: the development of increasingly advanced technologies in the service of criminal proceedings can lead to significant economic, industrial and environmental effects.Not to mention the ethical and philosophical issues that this phenomenon may arise.The ultimate goal of the research is to examine the compatibility of the scenarios outlined by the various technologies taken into account with legal instruments and categories, in order to suggest viable paths for the implementation of the different degrees of ICT in the criminal proceeding and to identify those that, on the contrary, at least at the state of art, must be considered precluded.