This paper starts taking note of the contradiction in which imprisonment nowadays is. On the one side, it can claim foundations in science and rationality, which made it an apparently indispensable tool; on the other side, nowadays there is clear evidence of a deep crisis in many respects, humanitarian, ideological and of efficiency. Therefore, in this moment, we are facing a turning point in the Italian policy on crime. The guidelines under which the punitive system may evolve in the future match distinct, but not necessarily alternative, cultural preconditions. There are three conceivable guidelines for the reform: firstly, that of the alternative measures in prison; secondly, that of the measures alternative to imprisonment; finally, the restorative justice. Each of these will be examined in respect of the imprisonment "monoculture".
Measures alternative to imprisonment have been continuously examined within criminal law debate in order to solve problems related to, on the one side, hypertrophy of penal legislation and, on the other side, crisis of the imprisonment itself with special regard to short detention. It happens nowadays too, since criminal policies – also because of the ECHR sentence 8th June 2013 against Italy in the case Torreggiani v. Italy – aim to use measures alternative to imprisonment as a tool against prison overcrowding (and sometimes against the overload of the criminal justice system), pushing into the background the demands for improvement of their efficacy in terms of rehabilitation.
This article examines the fundamental characteristics of the comprehensive reform of criminal law proposed by Minister Orlando and currently under examination at the Senate. This reform should have an impact on many institutions of substantive criminal law – e.g., the extinguishment of a crime due to preparatory conducts and especially the statute of limitations for a crime – as well as on a number of procedural criminal law standards, which share the aim to make procedural developments more effective, even by means of a stricter deadline system for the different turning points.
Il presente contributo evidenzia la centralità dei vincoli di origine sovranazionale nell’ambito del tribolato percorso di riforma del sistema sanzionatorio da mesi in corso. In quest’ottica, dopo aver richiamato il ruolo che il rispetto dei diritti fondamentali gioca ai fini dello sviluppo del processo di integrazione sovrastatuale in materia, ci si sofferma sulle ricadute negative che il sovraffollamento carcerario è suscettibile di produrre nell’ambito della cooperazione giudiziaria. Dopo aver posto l’accento sulle tensioni prodotte dal delicato rapporto tra mutuo riconoscimento e diritti dei detenuti, il lavoro sottolinea però l’importante contributo offerto da alcuni strumenti di diritto dell’Unione europea ai fini dell’elaborazione di standard minimi di tutela e in vista di un accrescimento del grado di fiducia reciproca tra gli attori della cooperazione in materia penale. Da ultimo il contributo si interroga sulla possibilità che le disposizioni di diritto europeo derivato possano favorire le logiche deflattive che ispirano l’azione riformatrice del legislatore italiano e garantire una reale pluridimensionalità del trattamento rieducativo all’interno dello spazio giudiziario senza frontiere interne.