Articles by Lorenzo Pasculli
Policing, 2021
Recent corruption scandals suggest that the legal structures developed to responsibilize corporat... more Recent corruption scandals suggest that the legal structures developed to responsibilize corporations might paradoxically enable the systematization of corruption across entire industry sectors. This study uses grounded theory methodology to develop a preliminary theoretical model of the correlations between the law, responsibilization, and the causes of systemic corruption. Through a qualitative examination of documental evidence from the case study of the recent Australian banking scandal, this article conceptualizes a two-way process of ‘legal deresponsibilization’. On the one hand, legal dysfunctions fail to effectively support the situational and cultural goals of responsibilization. On the other hand, the pursuit of such goals transforms the law in ways that can lead to the deresponsibilization of both corporations and the state. The article suggests that structural reforms are needed to correct this process and the underlying systemic imbalances between the legal promotion of financial interests and that of countervailing values of integrity and accountability.
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Coventry Law Journal, 2020
The sudden move of our lives online during the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased fr... more The sudden move of our lives online during the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased fraud risks. The personal and economic harms are enormous. The UK Government is responding with a two-fold approach. On the one hand, it relies on traditional law enforcement. On the other hand, it seeks to encourage individuals, businesses and public agencies to take responsibility in controlling and preventing crime by changing their practices through information campaigns and risk assessment and management., a strategy known as 'responsibilisation'. While literature in the last few decades has broadly analysed the social implications of responsibilisation on crime control in general, not many studies have focused on the specific area of financial crime. This study assesses the UK response to Covid19-related fraud risks in light of the literature on responsibilisation through a comparative review of different policies and practices by various government agencies. Our analysis will reveal that the UK Government’s two-fold approach to fraud and financial crime is inherently inadequate to effectively prevent crime. Strained law enforcement agencies and regulators struggle to cope with the high numbers of reported frauds. As a result, both deterrence and retribution are undermined. On the other hand, the fixation on the surgical identification, dissection and rectification of a myriad of micro-situations that can entail a risk of crime causes the government to lose sight of the root causes of crime - biological, psychological, social, cultural, economic and political. After our critical discussion, we will put forwards some recommendations to improve not only Covid19-related anti-fraud policies and practices but, more generally, the response to fraud and financial crime.
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Journal of Ethics and Legal Technologies, 2020
Information and communication technologies provide immediate means, motivations and opportunities... more Information and communication technologies provide immediate means, motivations and opportunities for cybercrime. However, deeper cultural, social and psychological developments triggered by globalisation are the root causes of such motivations and opportunities. Successful strategies to prevent cybercrime cannot focus only on technological or infrastructural defences but must address these global developments. While scientific understanding and political awareness of such causes are still limited, studies from different disciplines, including sociology, criminology and psychology, allow to detect some global criminogenic patterns and to identify the state responsibilities of national governments for failing to address them adequately. This article integrates the findings of these studies to provide a preliminary interdisciplinary theory of the global causes of cybercrime and assess what national governments can do to mitigate them.
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Journal of Financial Crime , 2019
Purpose-This article assesses the risks of systematisation of corruption in the UK following the ... more Purpose-This article assesses the risks of systematisation of corruption in the UK following the Brexit referendum.
Design/methodology/approach-The article applies theoretical and empirical findings of criminological, social, psychological, economic and legal research on the causes of systemic corruption to the socio-institutional developments following the Leave vote.
Findings-The events surrounding the referendum confirm that the resort to corrupt practices is normalised in certain sectors of the British institutions, business and media and that socio-political processes activated by the Leave vote and inadequate UK policy-and lawmaking can aggravate the situational and socio-psychological enablers of systemic corruption. Effective solutions must go beyond mere anti-corruption laws and address deeper social issues.
Research limitations/implications-The article focuses only on some of the major situational and socio-psychological causes of systemic corruption, including the unintended criminogenic effects of the law. More interdisciplinary research is required to address other causes, such as historical and cultural factors.
Practical implications-The findings of this article can inspire practical solutions by policymakers and future research.
Social implications-The article contributes to raise social awareness and stimulate public discussion on systemic corruption in the UK and on the consequences of the referendum on public and private integrity.
Originality/value-The article offers the first systematic analysis of the effects of Brexit and the referendum on corruption through an integrated interdisciplinary approach to systemic corruption in the UK. Article classification-Research paper
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Diritto Penale XXI Secolo, 2016
Despite its liberal tradition, the English law is still far from enforcing the harm principle as ... more Despite its liberal tradition, the English law is still far from enforcing the harm principle as a fundamental principle of criminal law. On the one hand, the legislator often criminalises harmless behaviours; on the other hand, courts still seek to enforce morality through criminal law. A new perspective comes from the Italian doctrine of the principio di offensività (literally, principle of harmfulness), in its twofold dimension of criterion of criminalisation and criterion of judicial interpretation-application. Such principle had a considerable impact on Italian law, to the extent that the Constitutional Court recognised it as a constitutionalised principle of criminal law. This article assesses the possibility of exporting the Italian constitutional oriented approach to the English legal framework, in the attempt of finding some legal and constitutional foundations for the harm principle.
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Diritto Penale XXI Secolo, 2016
For more than thirty years the English law established that whenever two defendants had a common ... more For more than thirty years the English law established that whenever two defendants had a common intention to commit a particular crime, but one of them committed another crime, the other party was criminally liable for the acts by the primary offender if he had foreseen the possibility that he might have acted as he did. The principle was based on the equation between foresight and intent. The recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in the joint cases Jogee and Ruddock changes the law, by restating the older principle according to which the mental element required of a secondary party is an intention to assist or encourage the principal to commit the crime. Foresight is not equivalent to authorisation. This decision has the effect of bringing the mental element of the secondary party back into broad parity with what is required of the principal and of narrowing the scope of criminal law. It can also stimulate Italian lawyers and law-makers to start a thorough rethinking of the law of the much-debated concorso anomalo.
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This paper contains one of the first analysis of the urgent procedure for the space of liberty, s... more This paper contains one of the first analysis of the urgent procedure for the space of liberty, security and justice before the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is most relevant in criminal matters.
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Short commentary on a decision of the Judge for Preliminary Investigation of the Criminal Court o... more Short commentary on a decision of the Judge for Preliminary Investigation of the Criminal Court of Venice (February 14th, 2007) on the power of the "support administrator" ("amministratore di sostegno") of a person incapable of attending to their own interests to press charges for a criminal offense committed against the administrated person.
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Papers by Lorenzo Pasculli
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Social Science Research Network, Aug 31, 2016
Despite its liberal tradition, the English law is still far from enforcing the harm principle as ... more Despite its liberal tradition, the English law is still far from enforcing the harm principle as a fundamental principle of criminal law. On the one hand, the legislator often criminalises harmless behaviours; on the other hand, courts still seek to enforce morality through criminal law. A new perspective comes from the Italian doctrine of the principio di offensività (literally, principle of harmfulness), in its twofold dimension of criterion of criminalisation and criterion of judicial interpretation-application. Such principle had a considerable impact on Italian law, to the extent that the Constitutional Court recognised it as a constitutionalised principle of criminal law. This article assesses the possibility of exporting the Italian constitutional oriented approach to the English legal framework, in the attempt of finding some legal and constitutional foundations for the harm principle.
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This submission assesses the Government’s measures to: A. Reduce the risk of people being taken a... more This submission assesses the Government’s measures to: A. Reduce the risk of people being taken advantage of by fraud at this time, in particular with regard to vulnerable groups; B. Ensure that businesses and individuals are claiming appropriately and that fraudulent claims within the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self-employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) are detected. The submission finds that A. The response of Government and regulators to general coronavirus-related fraud risks is inadequate; B. The Government’s response to the specific fraud risks triggered by CJRS and SEISS is also inadequate. After discussing the reasons for such inadequacy, the report proposes policy recommendations.
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Corruption, Integrity and the Law, 2020
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Our previous book Corruption in the Global Era (Pasculli and Ryder, 2019a) aimed at improving our... more Our previous book Corruption in the Global Era (Pasculli and Ryder, 2019a) aimed at improving our understanding of the global causes, means, forms of perpetration and effects of corruption through an interdisciplinary dialogue between academics and practitioners, taking advantage also of the partnership between the Financial Crime Research Network (FCRN) at the University of the West of England and the Global Integrity Research Network (GIRN) at the Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity (CFCI) of Coventry University. This volume complements those studies by focusing on global and local regulatory responses to corruption. It is not a handbook or a commentary, but a research book aimed at advancing the still limited assessment of the effectiveness of anti-corruption laws (cf. Isenring, Chapter 14) and enriching the scarce British literature on corruption and financial crime (cf. Ryder, 2018a: p. 247). Many of the authors are practitioners and the approach is still interdisciplinary: different fields of the law (criminal law, tax law, European law, corporate law, competition law), as well as issues in ethics, criminology, restorative justice, governance and political philosophy are covered. The perspective is international and comparative. The book explores not only international regulations but also their implementation in different countries, such as the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Nigeria. This chapter brings together the findings of this book and formulates recommendations for future policies and research. One of its purposes is precisely to coordinate such findings with those of our previous research. Therefore, remands to our own works are not self- congratulatory, but necessary to avoid reiterating arguments and references already expressed elsewhere. In the first section, we will outline the sources of the current global anti-corruption framework and their limits. In the second section, we will illustrate the shortcomings of negative anti-corruption measures, while in the third we will analyse positive measures. In the fourth section, we will articulate some recommendations. Finally, we will draw our conclusions.
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SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020
The sudden move of our lives online during the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased fr... more The sudden move of our lives online during the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased fraud risks. The personal and economic harms are enormous. The UK Government is responding with a two-fold approach. On the one hand, it relies on traditional law enforcement. On the other hand, it seeks to encourage individuals, businesses and public agencies to take responsibility in controlling and preventing crime by changing their practices through information campaigns and risk assessment and management., a strategy known as 'responsibilisation'. While literature in the last few decades has broadly analysed the social implications of responsibilisation on crime control in general, not many studies have focused on the specific area of financial crime. This study assesses the UK response to COVID-19-related fraud risks in light of the literature on responsibilisation through a comparative review of different policies and practices by various government agencies. Our analysis will reveal that the UK Government’s two-fold approach to fraud and financial crime is inherently inadequate to effectively prevent crime. Strained law enforcement agencies and regulators struggle to cope with the high numbers of reported frauds. As a result, both deterrence and retribution are undermined. On the other hand, the fixation on the surgical identification, dissection and rectification of a myriad of micro-situations that can entail a risk of crime causes the government to lose sight of the root causes of crime - biological, psychological, social, cultural, economic and political. After our critical discussion, we will put forwards some recommendations to improve not only COVID-19-related anti-fraud policies and practices but, more generally, the response to fraud and financial crime.
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SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015
CONTENTS: 1. The global era and its negatives. – 1.1. The globalisation of crime. – 1.2. The “neg... more CONTENTS: 1. The global era and its negatives. – 1.1. The globalisation of crime. – 1.2. The “negativisation” of crime prevention. – 2. The three ways of negative prevention. – 2.1. The criminalisation of dangerousness (and more). – 2.2. Pre-crime and post-crime negative measures – 2.3. Emergency measures. – 2.4. The negative effects of negative prevention. – 3. For a positive turn. – 3.1. Towards a global society and a global system of criminal justice. – 3.2. Deconstructing and reconstructing frameworks. – 3.3. For a general theory of negative prevention. – 3.4. Lessons from the Italian experience. – 4. Conclusive remarks: positive values and the value of positives.
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Articles by Lorenzo Pasculli
Design/methodology/approach-The article applies theoretical and empirical findings of criminological, social, psychological, economic and legal research on the causes of systemic corruption to the socio-institutional developments following the Leave vote.
Findings-The events surrounding the referendum confirm that the resort to corrupt practices is normalised in certain sectors of the British institutions, business and media and that socio-political processes activated by the Leave vote and inadequate UK policy-and lawmaking can aggravate the situational and socio-psychological enablers of systemic corruption. Effective solutions must go beyond mere anti-corruption laws and address deeper social issues.
Research limitations/implications-The article focuses only on some of the major situational and socio-psychological causes of systemic corruption, including the unintended criminogenic effects of the law. More interdisciplinary research is required to address other causes, such as historical and cultural factors.
Practical implications-The findings of this article can inspire practical solutions by policymakers and future research.
Social implications-The article contributes to raise social awareness and stimulate public discussion on systemic corruption in the UK and on the consequences of the referendum on public and private integrity.
Originality/value-The article offers the first systematic analysis of the effects of Brexit and the referendum on corruption through an integrated interdisciplinary approach to systemic corruption in the UK. Article classification-Research paper
Papers by Lorenzo Pasculli
Design/methodology/approach-The article applies theoretical and empirical findings of criminological, social, psychological, economic and legal research on the causes of systemic corruption to the socio-institutional developments following the Leave vote.
Findings-The events surrounding the referendum confirm that the resort to corrupt practices is normalised in certain sectors of the British institutions, business and media and that socio-political processes activated by the Leave vote and inadequate UK policy-and lawmaking can aggravate the situational and socio-psychological enablers of systemic corruption. Effective solutions must go beyond mere anti-corruption laws and address deeper social issues.
Research limitations/implications-The article focuses only on some of the major situational and socio-psychological causes of systemic corruption, including the unintended criminogenic effects of the law. More interdisciplinary research is required to address other causes, such as historical and cultural factors.
Practical implications-The findings of this article can inspire practical solutions by policymakers and future research.
Social implications-The article contributes to raise social awareness and stimulate public discussion on systemic corruption in the UK and on the consequences of the referendum on public and private integrity.
Originality/value-The article offers the first systematic analysis of the effects of Brexit and the referendum on corruption through an integrated interdisciplinary approach to systemic corruption in the UK. Article classification-Research paper
Our previous collection, Corruption in the Global Era (Routledge, 2019), analysed the causes, the sources, and the forms of manifestation of global corruption. An ideal continuation of that volume, this book moves from the analysis of the phenomenon of corruption to that of the regulatory remedies against corruption and for the promotion of integrity.
Corruption, Integrity and the Law provides a unique interdisciplinary assessment of the global anti-corruption legal framework. The collection gathers top experts in different fields of both the academic and the professional world – including criminal law, EU law, international law, competition law, corporate law and ethics. It analyses legal instruments adopted not only at a supranational level but also by different countries, in the attempt of establishing an interdisciplinary and comparative dialogue between theory and practice and between different legal systems towards a better global promotion of integrity. This book will be of value to researchers, academics and students in the fields of law, criminology, sociology, economics, ethics as well as professionals – especially solicitors, barristers, businessmen and public servants.
Corruption in the Global Era seeks to establish an interdisciplinary dialogue between theory and practice and between different disciplines and to provide a better understanding of the multifaceted aspects of corruption as a global phenomenon. This book gathers top experts across various fields of both the academic and the professional world – including criminology, economics, finance, journalism, law, legal ethics and philosophy of law – to analyze the causes and the forms of manifestation of corruption in the global context and in various sectors (sports, health care, finance, the press etc.) from the most disparate perspectives. The theoretical frameworks elaborated by academics are here complemented by precious insider accounts on corruption in different areas, such as banking and finance and the press. The expanding links between corrupt practices and other global crimes, such as money laundering, fraud and human trafficking, are also explored. This book is an important resource to researchers, academics and students in the fields of law, criminology, sociology, economics and ethics, as well as professionals, particularly solicitors, barristers, businessmen and public servants.
This chapter brings together the findings of this book and formulates recommendations for future policies and research. One of its purposes is precisely to coordinate such findings with those of our previous research. Therefore, remands to our own works are not self- congratulatory, but necessary to avoid reiterating arguments and references already expressed elsewhere. In the first section, we will outline the sources of the current global anti-corruption framework and their limits. In the second section, we will illustrate the shortcomings of negative anti-corruption measures, while in the third we will analyse positive measures. In the fourth section, we will articulate some recommendations. Finally, we will draw our conclusions.
The book "Officina del Macello. 1917: La Decimazione della Brigata Catanzaro", where the chapter is published, has been chosen for the BOOKCIAK AWARDS, a competition for filmmakers. Filmmakers are invited to interpret the book in a "bookciak movie", an innovative format to express emotional and visual aspects of the book. The winning videos will be projected at the "Giornate degli autori 2015" at the Movie Festival of Venice, next September: www.bookciak.it
Genetics may be used in crime prevention basically in two ways: 1) to establish whether a person is genetically predisposed to crime or antisocial behaviours (that is, to assess his dangerousness); 2) to collect and retain DNA samples of individuals in special databases or banks in order to compare them with those found on the scenes of crimes, so to detect the authors of crimes. As for robotics, its employment in crime prevention is far more variegated than that of genetics, but it often passes unnoticed to the eyes of the lawyer, as it is still relegated to the field of mere praxis, lacking specific legal regulations. Robots are currently used by many Countries for the most disparate preventive purposes, such as a) surveillance, b) formation, education and information, c) police guarding and patrolling, d) using force against things and against persons.
The analysis of these possible uses of genetics and robotics in crime prevention shows how they may be employed as means of either positive or negative prevention, whereas positive prevention consists in the promotion and development of the prerogatives and personality of human person, while negative prevention consists in the compression of human personality, with its inherent rights and liberties.
Thus, genetics and robotics reflect once again the old question of the means of crime prevention. Against the insistent (almost obsessive) suggestions that the only way to «fight» a criminality that (especially in our global era) is getting more and more «exceptional» are negative measures, I insist in suggesting that positive measures are still the most efficient and legitimate way to prevent crime. The resources, technologies and products of globalisation – amongst which robotics and genetics – would be better invested in the development of instruments to support and enhance the personality of the human being, rather than in the multiplication of weapons and measures that compress, incapacitate, neutralise, eliminate this personality in an escalation of violence and (preventive) repression which ultimately is more criminogenic than preventive – especially on the global scale and over the long term.
However, since crime prevention is but a means of protection against the most harmful aggression to the most significant interests and goods of the human person, then the condition for its legitimacy is that crime prevention itself does not turn into result into an arbitrary violation of the human person itself. Therefore, the minimum threshold of legitimacy of any genetic and robotic measure of crime prevention shall be its compliance with the safeguard of fundamental individual rights and liberties typical the rule of law and protected by international human rights law.
The increasing episodes of bullying, the social alarm which they create and the media attention led the italian Parliament to present specific law proposals aimed to fight the phenomenon.
By now, though, as a whole phenomenon, bullying is not yet regulated by any "ad hoc" legislation. That does not mean that law does not care about bullying and does not offer any kind of response. Indeed, the many forms of bullying find a satisfactory regulation in the rich and articulated set of measures provided for by the Italian juvenile justice system. Such system could be probably perfected, but it contains all the necessary responses to the need for protection raised by bullying - which, besides, are often the same of juvenile deviance in general.
This paper analyses the several measures of prevention and repression of bullying adopted in Italy, also in a comparative perspective (especially with French and British law)
This paper considers such issues in a problematic perspective, not necessarily to offer definitive answers, but especially to stimulate a careful meditation on what could be the future content of criminal sanctions.