Preface

The relationship between scientific knowledge, criminal law, and justice is a very complex issue. It is, in fact, a peculiar topos in which the distinction between "concept" and "evidence"—on which the consolidated scholastic differentiation between substantive and procedural criminal law is traditionally based—becomes fluid and blurred. This happens because the need to have recourse to experts with specialized knowledge, far from deriving from purely evidentiary needs, reflects the scientific complexity that characterizes—further upstream—the substantive categories that come into play. There are, therefore, categories that are already characterized by a strong procedural–probative identity.

Criminal sciences attempt to explain criminal phenomena, study the personality of the offenders and their environmental context, classify antisocial behaviors as crimes, and regulate the enforcement of the sentence. Criminal behavior analysis combines the study of psychology, motivations of deviant and violent behaviors, and the basics of the criminal justice system. Over the years, several models and theories have been developed, with the aim of explaining the recondite nature of the crime; from unifactorial to multifactorial, passing through deterministic "cause-effect" theories, up to the present day, where neuroscientific approaches are becoming increasingly popular. In this perspective, knowledge in the domain of forensic psychopathology—in relation to the assessment of imputability and social danger—becomes fundamental and requires consideration of the innovative perspective of clinical neuropsychology.

Since 2009, neuroscientific and behavioral genetics techniques have been used on four occasions in criminal trials in Italy. These are pilot sentences at the European level; in other countries of the old continent, in fact, criminal justice continues to be very cautious regarding the "endoprocedural" use of such scientific evidence. In other European countries, the criminal justice system continues to be very cautious regarding the end-of-court use of such "new" scientific evidence. In this sense, Italy seems to be closer to the United States, a country in which the use of neuroscience in the courtroom is by now quite long-standing. This attitude of openness of the Italian courts allows for a close confrontation with cutting-edge knowledge that, however, precisely because of its recent appearance on the stage of criminal justice, raises many questions about this knowledge's r entry and use in the process. More generally, the debate regarding the potential contribution of the most advanced medical and neuropsychological sciences to the administration of criminal justice represents only the last stage of the complicated relationship between the scientific universe and the criminal–criminological universe. This book provides the reader with a complete overview of the current state of the art in the criminological context (from legal, sociocultural, psychological, and medical points of view), paying particular attention to the most important evidence-based developments in this area.

The first section is a brief miscellany of contributors addressing aspects of vulnerability that in multiple contexts emerge as key factors for analysis and monitoring. From fear to the expression of negative feelings to substance abuse, everything

points to a psychological fragility that needs to be considered when talking about crime, legal decisions, and restraint in prison. In correctional institutions, psychopathological manifestations are particularly frequent. They may be the continuation of disorders present before prison, or they may be exacerbated in prison, or they may be a psychotic response to events, particularly psychotraumatizing events such as imprisonment, remorse for the crime committed, the expectation of conviction, and the sentence itself. Reactions at the psychic level can easily occur in prison, with the usual phenomenological characteristics, which are facilitated in their development by the prison situation and the living conditions that prisoners are forced to endure. The most frequent psychic disorders in prison are therefore basically twofold in nature. On the one hand, it is necessary to manage the depressive–anxious reactions clearly connected with the suffered arrest, and on the other hand, it is necessary to treat more or less serious psychopathological forms, some of which emerged in prison and some of which manifested previously under the care of local services or private professionals. The relationship between prison and addiction is very close. The fact that those who come out of a long period of detention have a higher risk of death than the general population is not new. What is certain now is that ex-prisoners are also more fragile in the face of alcohol and drugs.

reality of rape is deeply rooted in the social fabric. For some scholars, rape is a form of social representation. It is extremely ritualized. It varies from country to country, changing over time. The contributions in this book provide important suggestions

The last section is dedicated to autopsy and diagnostic testing, with a focus on the new methods of DNA sampling and evaluation. An autopsy is the examination of the corpse aimed at clarifying doubts about the death of a person or to ascertain

Autopsy means, literally, "to see with one's own eyes" (from the Greek αὐτός, autòs: "same"; and ὄψις, òpsis: "sight"), but it is much more than a mere objective examination of the patient. It is referred to as a "post-mortem examination", but perhaps it would be more correct to say that it is a "quoad mortem examination" since it does not take place only, for obvious reasons, after the death, but it is directed precisely to investigate aspects related, precisely, to the death of the subject and, in particular, to investigate its causes, it's timing, and the means or diseases that have determined it. There are two main contexts in which autopsy is used. The first is when the examination is carried out to check the diagnosis or to answer clinical–scientific questions (in this case, we speak of "diagnostic finding" or "anatomopathological autopsy"). The second is when the investigation is carried out within a criminal procedure because it is suspected that the death may be the result of a crime (this is the real "judicial autopsy"). The authors of this volume offer us important insights

**Sara Palermo**

Milan, Italy

Neuroradiology Unit,

**Raluca Dumache**

Timisoara, Romania

Neurological Institute C. Besta IRCCS Foundation,

Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy,

about this.

and reflections.

relevant issues related to it.

The second section is dedicated to youth discomfort and crime, models of interpretation, and contrast and recovery, with contributions from various parts of the world. Juvenile crime is one of the issues of greatest social concern. Juvenile delinquency is a phenomenon that develops on the concept of deviance, that is, on the set of behaviors that depart from social norms, violating them without restraint, and that express the need to transgress to assume an identity within society. The expressions through which juvenile crime manifests itself are innumerable. Among the most frequent are theft, muggings, robberies, extortion, vandalism, violence against people, drug dealing, and drug use. In the worst cases, it can even lead to homicide. Over time, numerous studies have analyzed statistical data and the dynamics of crime to identify the causes that lead young people to commit criminal acts. The number of young prisoners is increasing and the need to increase personal care in prisons is growing.

The third section deals with a special type of crime: fraud. The legal system punishes those behaviors that are aimed at cheating another person, but also those that seek to make a mockery of the complex machinery of justice. This is a fluid crime that is difficult to curb.

In fact, fraud is constantly evolving and follows the technological and communicative developments from which all of the society benefits. It is for this reason that the instruments for combating fraud also need constant innovation. The contributors to this section, therefore, deal with the criminal case by correlating it with other crimes and with interesting models of interpretation and legal contrast.

The fourth section is dedicated to sexual crimes. These are the crimes that most shock public opinion, especially when they are committed against weaker individuals, both physically and mentally, or minors. Sex offenders are not a homogeneous group of individuals. The motivations behind the crime, the modus operandi, and the age at which the first sexual assault is committed can be very different from one sex offender to another. In the same way, the victims can be very different, both in terms of age and sex as well as their physical characteristics and the type of relationship they have with the offender. The overall picture that emerges from the quantitative data is bleak. Despite decades of civil battles and deep legislative reforms, the

reality of rape is deeply rooted in the social fabric. For some scholars, rape is a form of social representation. It is extremely ritualized. It varies from country to country, changing over time. The contributions in this book provide important suggestions about this.

The last section is dedicated to autopsy and diagnostic testing, with a focus on the new methods of DNA sampling and evaluation. An autopsy is the examination of the corpse aimed at clarifying doubts about the death of a person or to ascertain relevant issues related to it.

Autopsy means, literally, "to see with one's own eyes" (from the Greek αὐτός, autòs: "same"; and ὄψις, òpsis: "sight"), but it is much more than a mere objective examination of the patient. It is referred to as a "post-mortem examination", but perhaps it would be more correct to say that it is a "quoad mortem examination" since it does not take place only, for obvious reasons, after the death, but it is directed precisely to investigate aspects related, precisely, to the death of the subject and, in particular, to investigate its causes, it's timing, and the means or diseases that have determined it. There are two main contexts in which autopsy is used. The first is when the examination is carried out to check the diagnosis or to answer clinical–scientific questions (in this case, we speak of "diagnostic finding" or "anatomopathological autopsy"). The second is when the investigation is carried out within a criminal procedure because it is suspected that the death may be the result of a crime (this is the real "judicial autopsy"). The authors of this volume offer us important insights and reflections.

> **Sara Palermo** Neuroradiology Unit, Neurological Institute C. Besta IRCCS Foundation, Milan, Italy

**Raluca Dumache** Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania

Section 1

Psychological Vulnerability - A Variable Present in Different Contexts

## **Chapter 1**
