The Determinants of Urban Security Policies

The research project titled “The Determinants of Urban Security Policies and Their Impact on Democratic Institutions” aims to explore the reasons behind the emergence of the “urban security issue” and related public policies since the 1990s.

The project seeks to identify which of the two models commonly recognized in the literature as explaining the relationship between public and punitive crime control policies – the bottom-up and top-down models – best fits the Italian experience. The bottom-up model suggests that the public, alarmed by an actual rise in crime, pushes politicians toward punitive crime control strategies, while the top-down model posits that political elites shape public opinion, often with media support.

By collecting and cross-referencing substantial data, the goal is to empirically reconstruct the factors driving punitive interventions over the past three decades, ultimately fostering reflection on whether there is a foundation underlying the perceived need for insecurity and the demand for increased criminalization. The two-year study, created within the framework of the Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN) and the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR), is funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research through the European Union’s Next Generation EU funds. It involves academic collaboration between two Research Units: one at the University of Milan, coordinated by Roberto Cornelli, Principal Investigator, Professor of Criminology at the Department of Legal Sciences “Cesare Beccaria”, and Director of CRIMePO – Criminology and Public Policy Research Centre; and the other at the Alma Mater Studiorum of Bologna, coordinated by Rossella Selmini, Professor of Criminology at the Department of Legal Sciences.

Others projects

RESEARCH AREA

Restorative practices in contexts of mass human rights violations

The project aims to identify the reasons behind the rise of increasingly punitive security policies over the past thirty years. Specifically, it empirically examines bottom-up models (policies as a response to citizen demands) and top-down models (policies as a tool used by elites to shape public opinion) to determine which is more explanatory of the Italian context.

Detail
RESEARCH AREA

Observatory on criminal and security legislation

The project aims to identify the reasons behind the rise of increasingly punitive security policies over the past thirty years. Specifically, it empirically examines bottom-up models (policies as a response to citizen demands) and top-down models (policies as a tool used by elites to shape public opinion) to determine which is more explanatory of the Italian context.

Detail
PSR

The Use of Force and Its Limits in the Penitentiary Context

The project aims to identify the reasons behind the rise of increasingly punitive security policies over the past thirty years. Specifically, it empirically examines bottom-up models (policies as a response to citizen demands) and top-down models (policies as a tool used by elites to shape public opinion) to determine which is more explanatory of the Italian context.

Detail
PRIN 2022

Police and Youth with Migrant Backgrounds in the San Siro District of Milan

The project aims to identify the reasons behind the rise of increasingly punitive security policies over the past thirty years. Specifically, it empirically examines bottom-up models (policies as a response to citizen demands) and top-down models (policies as a tool used by elites to shape public opinion) to determine which is more explanatory of the Italian context.

Detail