INTEGRATED COURSE OF LEGAL PSYCHO-SOCIOLOGY AND DEVIANCEModule PSYCHOLOGY OF DEVIANCE
Academic Year 2024/2025 - Teacher: Santo DI NUOVOExpected Learning Outcomes
In integration with the other module dealing with the sociology of deviance, the module aims to train in the application of psychological concepts and constructs in the assessment and treatment of deviance
The student will be expected to learn how to choose appropriate tools for psychological evaluations of deviant subjects, also to plan an appropriate reeducational treatment.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR FOREIGN (ERASMUS) STUDENTS:
THE COURSE WILL MAKE REFERENCES TO THE LEGAL SYSTEM IN USE IN ITALY. IT MAY THEREFORE BE UNSUITABLE FOR STUDENTS WHO WILL HAVE TO DO PSYCHOLOGICAL WORK IN OTHER COUNTRIES, WITH DIFFERENT LEGAL SYSTEMS.
Course Structure
Required Prerequisites
Attendance of Lessons
Detailed Course Content
The module aims to explore, from a psychological perspective, the issues of crime and offending, starting with a historical review of psycho-social theories of deviance.
Specific reference will be devoted to crimes by and about juveniles.
Legal responses to deviant behavior and the role of the forensic psychologist in the criminal justice field will then be discussed and exemplified.
Part of the course will be devoted to the tools and methods of the forensic psychologist in expert work, with case presentations.
DETAILS IN THE "PROGRAMMING" SECTION
Textbook Information
Basic exam materials are available on Studium, in the files concerning:
- Why we become criminals: theories and interpretive models
- The response to crime: from the security of retributive justice to the uncertainty of responsibility.
- Legal categories and psychological categories: the case of 'probation'
- Deviance and rehabilitation: perspectives on training
- Institutionalizing communities?
- Epistemology and methods of forensic psychology.
- Methods and techniques of criminal expertise
In addition to the material published and available on Studium, one topic of your choice should be explored by choosing one of the following books to report on in the exam:
- Canter D. e Youngs D. Psicologia investigativa. Profilazione degli autori di reato e analisi dell’azione criminale – Fioriti 2022
- Mazzoni G. Psicologia della testimonianza – Carocci 2011
- Patrizi P. La giustizia riparativa – Carocci 2019
For those attending the concluding part of the course, in which criminal forensic psychology cases will be presented and commented on, the text of choice may be substituted for a report on one of the cases covered.
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Theories of deviance, including with reference to juvenile deviance | |
| 2 | Responsibility and de-responsibility, and their developmental matrices | |
| 3 | The social response to crime | |
| 4 | Comparison of legal and psychological categories. The example of “probation” | |
| 5 | Rehabilitation and the training of practitioners | |
| 6 | From prison to communities: the risk of institutionalization | |
| 7 | Epistemology and methods of forensic psychology: comparisons with scientific research methods | |
| 8 | Forensic expertise in criminal justice: psychological methods and techniques | |
| 9 | IN-DEPTH STUDY BY CHOICE |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Oral examination with the possibility of personal insights on materials provided by the lecturer on the Studium platform.
The ability of the master's student to connect the topics covered in the course, in an organic view of psychology applied to the forensic field, as well as the deepening of specific issues on the materials and/or with personal research will be evaluated.