CRIMINAL PROCEDURAL LAW
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Bibliography
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
A good knowledge of Constitutional Law and, especially, of Criminal Law, is required in order to correctly understand the subject and successfully take part in the course.
To this end, attending students in particular are strongly recommended to review in advance, if deemed necessary on the basis of their previous studies and current knowledge, all constitutional norms on fundamental rights of persons and on the organization of the judiciary, as well as the whole program of the Criminal Law course.
The exam is aimed at verifying the acquisition of the required notions and assessing the expected outcomes: proper use of vocabulary, logical and orderly organization of speech; advanced oral and written language and communication skills.
To that end, attending students only will be given a chance to perform a midterm written test, with multichoice questions in order to verify the knowledge level, and with open questions in order to assess vocabulary, communicative and argumentative skills. The positive result of the written test (at least 16/30) allows the students to attend the oral exam only on the second part of the course.
The total of the written test will be averaged with the oral examination.
Non-attending students, as well as attending students who have not passed or have not accepted the result of the written test, shall be examined orally. The questions aim to assess their language and argumentative skills, their knowledge of legal concepts and their ability to identify the dynamics underlying single procedural concepts. Finally, the critical capacity of the student will be as well assessed, with reference to the variety of exegetical opinions on a given norm or on a specific institute.
The course of Criminal procedural law aims to develop and strengthen, through the study of the fundamentals of criminal trials, language and communication skills (both oral and written) of students now in their fourth year of legal education.
By the end of the course, the student shall be able to properly identify and discuss issues related to procedural rules (problem solving and reasoning skills), using the most appropriate technical terms.
The course will deal with all the aspects of criminal proceedings.
After some methodological premises and constitutional references, the course will examine the “actors” of the criminal proceeding, their acts, the law of evidence and the proceedings.
Then, from a “dynamic” point of view, attention will be given to the different stages of a proceeding (investigations, preliminary hearing, trial, summary trials, hearings and appeals), and then to interim and precautionary measures, sentencing and enforcement. The last part of the program will tackle the so-called microsystems of juvenile courts, magistrates or justices of the peace, proceedings for corporate criminal liability, enforcement of foreign judgments and mutual assistance in criminal matters (11° Section - Libro - of the Criminal Procedural Code).
Norms, institutions and, more generally, procedural notions shall be analysed in their formants of legislation, case law and legal doctrine.
Attending students shall have to study the following textbooks:
- F. RUGGIERI, Diritto processuale e pratiche criminali, Zanichelli, Bologna, 2018;
- the seminars will be prepared on S. NOVANI - F. RUGGIERI, Guida minima alla logica processuale, Pacini Giuridica, Pisa, 2019;
- essential object of study is also the criminal procedural code, in the version currently in force, which can be purchased in any of the editions available on the market. In class, the professor will indicate any legislative changes, with respect to the above indicated texts, which student must know.
For the moot court, students will use the case documents provided for in class.
The “attending student” status will be proved through the signatures collected during each class. A student will be considered “attending” if he/she takes part to at least 80% of the lessons of the whole course.
Non-attending students shall have to study:
• F. RUGGIERI, Diritto processuale e pratiche criminali, Zanichelli, Bologna, 2018;
• S. NOVANI - F. RUGGIERI, Guida minima alla logica processuale, Pacini Giuridica, Pisa, 2019;
• S. MARCOLINI, Il principio di correlazione tra accusa e sentenza, Pacini Giuridica, Pisa, 2018;
• the code of criminal procedure in the version currently in force, which can be purchased in any of the editions available on the market.
Any legislative changes, with respect to the above indicated texts, will be indicated on the specific page dedicated to the course on the e-learning platform. Non-attending students are expressly required to check this fact and be prepared on these changes.
Classes will be held directly by the professor, but with a possible active role from the students; subject to be explained in classroom will be previously indicated in the so-called Syllabus, available on the dedicated page on the e-learning platform. All students — both attending and not attending — are requested to sign up for the course on the platform, so as to be up to date and to receive all the proper news. In order to ensure a more profitable study, the only attending students are also invited to study in advance at home the topics before every lesson.
The training of attending students shall be completed through the participation to the moot court and the mandatory attendance to the seminars on interpretation in criminal procedure.
Student hours
The professor is always available after the lesson. Further appointments can be made contacting directly the professor via e-mail.
For any doubt or clarification on the program or on the lessons, please contact the professor's collaborator, Andrea Marabini, on his institutional email (andrea.marabini@uninsubria.it).