Juvenile delinquency and the criminal justice system in Italy - Con Stefania Crocitti

This chapter examines juvenile delinquency and the functioning of the juvenile criminal justice system in Italy. The first section outlines key characteristics of juvenile delinquency, its evolution over time, and the principal findings emerging from both qualitative and quantitative research, alongside an overview of crime trends among young people. The second section focuses on the Italian criminal justice response to youth offending. In marked contrast to broader international trends, this response has been grounded in mitigation and in the pursuit of alternative forms of punishment. The chapter explores the rationale for the protection afforded to minors, a concept rooted in the origins of Western legal systems and firmly enshrined in the Italian Constitution and in International Conventions. It is argued that this approach has played a crucial role in maintaining relatively low levels of juvenile crime. Recently, moral panic narratives and media stigmatisation, broader social changes, heightened perceptions of insecurity, and the growing visibility of youth groups in public spaces have challenged the longstanding attitude of tolerance and fostered a more repressive institutional response to youth crime.