Abstract
The case of Amanda Knox has exposed the Italian Criminal Justice System (CJS). Between 2007 and 2015 Knox was twice convicted and twice acquitted. But this case is not only a list of factual and procedural mistakes. It is also the representation of an ideal of justice. Many articles from both academic and popular literature focused on the leading prosecutor, Mr. Mignini, who strongly pursued a clear prosecutorial strategy. In this chapter Montana analyses and discusses the prosecutors’ legal culture to illustrate the reasons why they are central legal actors in the Italian CJS. This throws light on and provides a different and more comprehensive perspective about the role of prosecutors in the Italian CJS.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Amodio, E., & Selvaggi, E. (1989). An accusatorial system in a civil law country: The 1988 Italian code of criminal procedure. Temple Law Review, 62, 1211–1224.
Boari, N. (1997). On the efficiency of penal systems: Several lessons from the Italian experience. International Review of Law and Economics, 17, 115–126.
Cotterrell, R. (1997). The concept of legal culture. In D. Nelken (Ed.), Comparing legal cultures. Dartmouth: Ashgate.
Damaška, M. (1997). Evidence law adrift. New Haven: London.
Della Porta, D. (2001). A judges’ revolution? Political corruption and the judiciary in Italy. European Journal of Political Research, 39(1), 1–21.
Di Federico, G. (1998). Prosecutorial independence and the democratic requirement of accountability in Italy analysis of a deviant case in a comparative perspective. British Journal of Criminology, 38(3), 371–387.
Di Federico, G., & Sapignoli, M. (2002). Processo penale e diritti della difesa. Roma: Carocci.
Donadio, R., & Povoledo, E. (2011). As Amanda Knox heads home, the debate is just getting started. Retrieved 31 August 2015 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/world/europe/amanda-knox-freed-after-appeal-in-italian-court.html
Ewick, P., & Silbey, S. S. (1998). The common place of law: Stories from everyday life Chicago. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Fassler, L. J. (1991). The Italian penal procedure code: An adversarial system of criminal procedure in continental Europe. Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, 29, 245–278.
Freccero, S. P. (1994). An introduction to the New Italian criminal procedure. American Journal of Criminal Law, 21(3), 345–383.
Friedman, L. M. (1997). The concept of legal culture: A reply. In D. Nelken (Ed.), Comparing legal cultures (pp. 33–41). Dartmouth: Ashgate.
Grande, E. (2000). Italian criminal justice: Borrowing and resistance. American Journal of Comparative Law, 48, 227–259.
Jackson, J. (2005). The effect of human rights on criminal evidentiary processes: Towards convergence, divergence or realignment?’. Modern Law Review, 68(5), 737–764.
Johnson, D. T. (2002). The Japanese way of justice prosecuting crime in Japan. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jones, T. (2009). Sex crimes and the city. The Guardian, 25 January. Retrieved 31 August 2015 from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/25/monster-florence-douglas-preston-mario-spezi
Jones T. (2011). Death in Perugia: The definitive account of the Meredith Kercher case by John Follain—Review. The Guardian, 27 October. Retrieved 31 August 2015 from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/27/death-perugia-kercher-follain-review
Kington, T. (2011). Giuliano Mignini: Knox prosecutor who believes he is the conspiracy victim. The Guardian, 3 October. Retrieved 31 August 2015 from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/03/giuliano-mignini-knox-prosecutor-conspiracy
Lacey, N. (2011). Why globalisation doesn’t spell convergence: Models of institutional variation and the comparative political economy of punishment. In A. Crawford (Ed.), International and comparative criminal justice and urban governance (pp. 214–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mezey, N. (2001). Out of the ordinary: Law, power, culture, and the commonplace. Law and Social Inquiry, 26, 145–167.
Mirabella, J. G. (2012). Scales of justice: Assessing Italian criminal procedure through the Amanda Knox trial. Boston University International Law Journal, 30(1), 229–260.
Montana, R. (2009a). Paradigms of judicial supervision and co-ordination between police and prosecutors: The Italian case in a comparative perspective. European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 17(4), 309–333.
Montana, R. (2009b). Pubblico ministero e pratiche di selezione del crimine. Cultura giuridica e rappresentazioni di senso comune: perché si può ancora sperare. Antigone. Quadrimestrale di critica al sistema penale e penitenziario, 4(2–3), 274–298.
Montana, R. (2009c). Prosecutors and the definition of the crime problem in Italy: Balancing the impact of moral panics. Criminal Law Forum, 20(4), 471–494.
Montana, R. (2012). Adversarialism in Italy: Using the concept of legal culture to understand resistance to legal modifications and its consequences. European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 20(1), 99–120.
Montana, R. (forthcoming). Prosecuting crime in Italy: Justice and crime control. Oxford: Hart.
Montana, R., & Nelken, D. (2011). Prosecution, legal culture and resistance to moral panics in Italy. In C. J. Smith, S. X. Zhang, & R. Barberet (Eds.), Routledge handbook of international criminology (pp. 286–297). New York: Routledge.
Nelken, D. (1996). The judges and political corruption in Italy. Journal of Law and Society, 23, 95–112.
Nelken, D. (Ed.) (1997). Comparing legal cultures. Dartmouth: Ashgate.
Nelken, D. (2000). Telling difference: Of crime and criminal justice in Italy. In D. Nelken (Ed.), Contrasting criminal justice (pp. 233–264). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Nelken, D. (2003). Legitimate suspicion? Berlusconi and the judges. In P. Segatti & J. Blondel (Eds.), Italian politics: A review (pp. 112–128). New York and Oxford: Berghahn.
Nelken, D. (2004). Using the concept of legal culture. Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy, 29, 1–28.
Nelken, D. (2006). Italy: A lesson in tolerance? In J. Muncie & B. Goldson (Eds.), Comparative youth justice: Critical issues (pp. 159–176). London: Sage.
Nelken, D. (2010). Comparative criminal justice: Making sense of difference. London: Sage.
Nelken, D., & Feest, J. (2001). Adapting legal cultures. Oxford: Hart.
Nelken, D., & Zanier, M. L. (2006). Tra norme e prassi: durata del processo penale e strategie degli operatori del diritto. Sociologia del Diritto, 1, 143–166.
Packer, H. L. (1968). The limits of the criminal sanction. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Preston, D. (2011). Amanda Knox: Victim of Italian code which puts saving face before justice. The Guardian, 4 October. Retrieved 31 August 2015 from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/04/knox-acquittal-only-possible-verdict
‘Processo Meredith, la Cassazione: “Clamorosi errori nell’inchiesta” (2015). La Repubblica, 9 July. Retrieved 9 September 2015 from http://firenze.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/09/07/news/processo_meredith_la_cassazione_mancavano_prove_oltre_ogni_dubbio_-122385797/?ref=HREC1-7
Robbins, L. (2009). An American in the Italian wheels of justice. The New York Times, 12 May. Retrieved 29 March 2015 from http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/an-american-in-the-italian-wheels-of-justice/
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Ms. Annette Morris and to the editors for their comments. Responsibility for any error in the present work rests with the author.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Montana, R. (2016). Prosecution in Action in the Italian Criminal Justice System: The Amanda Knox Case. In: Gies, L., Bortoluzzi, M. (eds) Transmedia Crime Stories. Palgrave Studies in Crime, Media and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59004-6_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59004-6_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59003-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59004-6
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)