Revisiting structural violence: Galtung’s legacy and power relations
The article offers a critical re-examination of Johan Galtung’s concept of structural violence, a foundational idea in the field of peace studies yet often challenged for its vagueness. The author addresses this weakness by bringing Galtung’s theoretical framework into dialogue with Foucault’s notion of the “state of domination,” understood as a arrangement of power relations that radically constrain individual freedom and perpetuate injustice and oppression.
Memory and Justice
Online: Prof. Cornelli’s lecture in Italian on “Memory and Justice”, delivered as part of the School of Political Culture (2024/2025) at the Casa della Cultura in Milan.
R. Cornelli (2024), È populismo penale? Il contrasto alla violenza di genere nelle società punitive
Through the reconstruction of the debate around feminist penal populism and, more broadly, the intersection between gender issues and criminal justice, the question arises as to whether and to what extent the penal-populist discourse, which is a key feature of the contemporary penal field, has influenced the feminist agenda and with what consequences. The proposal to consider three concurrent and competing trends in shaping public policies (anti-feminist populism, punitive feminism, and anti-punitive feminism) offers a more nuanced interpretive framework than the one emerging from Anglo-Saxon literature, allowing for a closer look at the Italian reality as well.
Transforming Social Relations. Restorative Responses to Massive Human Rights Violations
This report offers reflection, clarity, and guidance on the application of a restorative justice framework in contexts of massive human rights violations, including the advantages, risks, opportunities, and challenges of such an approach. The analysis is based on the experiences of Colombia, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, and the Bangsamoro region of the Philippines, which represent a range of different processes that all either integrated or reflected the practices or principles of restorative justice.
PolPenEventiCritici-XXIII The prison police facing critical incidents
The PolPenEventiCritici-XXIII survey, titled “The Prison Police facing critical incidents”, analyzes some of the most significant issues raised in the previous two studies, PolPen XXI and PolPen XXII, using qualitative research methods. In particular, it delves into the experiences of preventing and managing critical incidents and their impact on the working conditions of prison officers.
C. Chisari (2022), The Judicial Implementation of the Right to The Truth: Some Thoughts on the Argentinian Experience of the Juicios por la Verdad
This article explores the significance of safeguarding the right to truth in post-conflict contexts by examining the experience of the Juicios por la Verdad (Truth Trials), a quasi-judicial mechanism implemented in Argentina following the military dictatorship.
POLPEN-XXII First survey on prison police in Piedmont, Liguria, and Valle d’Aosta
The PolPen-XXII survey is the second study conducted in Italy on prison police personnel. It examines the perceptions of this understudied professional category regarding key aspects of their work experience, emotional well-being, and the quality of workplace relationships. The survey explores themes such as institutional (de)legitimization, professional orientation, management of critical incidents, attitudes toward the use of force, and dynamic surveillance.
POLPEN-XXI First survey of prison police in Lombardy
The PolPen-XXI survey is the first study conducted in Italy on prison police personnel. It captures the perceptions of this understudied professional category regarding various aspects of their work experience, emotional well-being, and the quality of workplace relationships. The survey explores themes such as institutional (de)legitimization, professional orientation, management of critical incidents, attitudes toward the use of force, and the impact of the COVID-19 emergency.
R. Cornelli (2020), La forza di polizia. Uno studio criminologico sulla violenza, Turin: Giappichelli
In a research journey that, starting from recent episodes of police brutality, addresses the key theoretical issues linking police action to the theme of violence from an interdisciplinary perspective, the Author offers an interpretation of police force that moves away from the common narrative of "bad apples" (or "diseased trees") to highlight the semantics of the violent act.
R. Cornelli, O. Binik, L. Natali (2020), When 'Message Laws' Create Perpetual Panic: the Case of Sex Offenders Registries
This contribution defines ‘Megan’s Laws’ as ‘message laws’, that is, those penal laws that carry a message not only coherent with the cultural impetus supporting their adoption but also anticipating something that is not (yet) acceptable to manifest openly inWestern politics.