LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course explores a variety of different themes within sociology of deviance and juvenile delinquency. It aims to encourage students to move beyond a mere theoretical approach in order to comprehend the ordinary administration of deviance, with a particular attention to the juvenile justice system.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at

• Developing a critical evaluation of academic ideas on deviance, marginality and juvenile delinquency and their translation into real-world environment.
• Acquiring better knowledge of social control structures and everyday practices of prevention, with a particular attention to the juvenile justice system;
• Providing a broader insight into the new transformations of the increasingly permeable boundary between social control and care practices

Upon completion of the course students will be able to develop critical and analytical skills about:

• academic ideas about and media representations of marginality and delinquency in real-world situations;
• social phenomena related to them;
• logics and working practices in Italian Juvenile Justice System.

TEACHING METHODS

Combination of traditional lectures, tutorials and classroom discussions on case studies. 

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course is ideally structured in three parts. The first is dedicated to the main theoretical developments and empirical research in the field of sociology of deviance, with particular attention to the representation of juvenile delinquency. The second will focus on the birth and development of the Juvenile Court in Italy. Finally, the third will examine some practical cases concerning both the organization of the main juvenile justice institutions and their impacts on families and juveniles.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

-T. Platt, Salvare i bambini. L’invenzione della delinquenza giovanile, Mimesis Edizioni, 2019.