Também disponível através de: https://www.ncjrs.gov/app/publications/abstract.aspx?id=190306. Acedido a 03 de janeiro de 2017

This book profiles Italy's criminal justice system as part of a series of descriptions of criminal justice systems in Europe and North America. Following a brief report on the size of Italy's population at the end of 1997, the authors provide an overview of the main criminal laws in the Italian legal system. This is followed by a review of the fundamental principles of Italian criminal law and procedure. The existing Criminal Procedure Code was approved in 1988. This Code abandoned the previous inquisitorial model and based the criminal procedure system on the accusatorial model. A brief description of the judicial and police systems is followed by an explanation of the basic principles of criminal law. A section on investigation and criminal procedure addresses restrictions on personal freedom before judgement appeals and the collection of evidence; the organizational structures of the investigative agencies, the Prosecution Office, and the courts; the right to a defense and the role of the lawyer; and the status of the victim. Other sections of the book describe types of sanctions, conditional suspension of the sentence, the prison system, and reform initiatives. The concluding section presents statistics on crime trends for 1930-39 and 1950-96, and on the number of convicted offenders for each type of crime (1921-30, 1950-73, and 1976-96). 8-item bibliography