Comparative Criminal Procedure and Policing

The Illinois Program in Comparative Criminal Procedure and Policing seeks to further knowledge and appreciation of comparative criminal procedure and the comparative study of policing through regular conferences, the first of which was held at the College of Law in January, 2019. Titled “Adversarial Criminal Procedure in the United States, Mexico, and Italy,” the conference brought together legal scholars, reformers, former prosecutors, anthropologists, and historians who write about American, Mexican, and Italian criminal procedure to discuss recent reforms that have transformed the criminal procedure of Mexico and Italy in ways that have made criminal procedure more party-driven and adversarial, with an emphasis on public trials and live testimony. The conference also brought together legal scholars and doctoral students from the University of Florence and the University of Bologna with legal scholars from the University of Illinois and with legal reformers who have worked actively with the Mexican government in the recent reform of the Mexican criminal process. The aim was to explore the differences in origin and emphasis between the adversarial legal systems of the three countries in question. There were panel presentations, discussions with commentators, and a round-table bringing together all the participants to discuss Mexican legal reform and the differences between the three systems. Scholarly contributions will be published in the Italian Law Journal.  

Director  

Jacqueline E. Ross – Prentice H. Marshall Professor of Law

Program Events

Adversarial Criminal Procedure in Italy, Mexico and the United States

A conference held at the University of Illinois College of Law Faculty Lounge and Conference Center

Co-sponsored by the Illinois Program in Comparative Criminal Procedure and Policing, the Illinois Program in Criminal Law, the European Union Center, and the University of Illinois Department of French and Italian

Tuesday, January 22

9:00 a.m.                       
Associate Dean Lesley Wexler (University of Illinois), Introductory Remarks

9:05 a.m.                                
Professor Jacqueline Ross (University of Illinois), Welcome

9:10 – 9:50 a.m.                     
Professor Renzo Orlandi, (University of Bologna) The Italian Path to Adversarial Reform of the Criminal Process

 9:50 – 10:35 a.m.                   
Discussion
Commentators:  Professor Jason Mazzone (University of Illinois) and Professor Joseph Hoffman (Indiana University)

10:35 – 10:50 a.m.                 
Break

10:50 – 11:30 a.m.                 
Professor Michele Papa, (University of Florence) Is Criminal Procedure Purely Instrumental to the Enforcement of Criminal Law?  A Comparative Analysis of Prosecutorial Discretion

11:30 – 12:15 p.m.                 
Discussion
Commentators:  Professor Jacqueline Ross and Professor Andrew Leipold (University of Illinois)

12:15 – 2:00 p.m.                   
Lunch

2:00 – 2:45 p.m.                     
Presentation by Chris Gair (Consultant on Mexican criminal justice reform and developer of USAID project to coach Mexican prosecutors on investigating and prosecuting cases under Mexico’s new system of criminal procedure) and Joan Safford (Consultant, Mexican Rule of Law Project and former Counsel to the Ambassador on Criminal Justice Matters) on the reform of the Mexican criminal process on an accusatorial model of criminal procedure

2:45 – 4:00 p.m.                     
Roundtable Discussion of Italian, Mexican and American Criminal Procedure
Joan Safford, Chris Gair, Professors Michele Papa, Renzo Orlandi, Jacqueline Ross, Jason Mazzone, Joseph Hoffman, Andrew Leipold.  Chair:  Professor Jessica Greenberg (University of Illinois)        

Wednesday, January 23

9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.           
Alberto Cappellini (University of Florence), Proving mens rea in Civil Law Systems: Rules of Procedure and the Implementation of Substantive Criminal Law

Marianna Biral (University of Bologna), A Contribution to the Debate on Anonymous Witnesses and Human Rights Based on the Italian Experience

Giulia Lasagni, (University of Bologna), Ne Bis In Idem and Banking Supervision:  Testing the Scope of Criminal Law Procedural Safeguards

Commentators:  Professors Jessica Greenberg, Andrew Leipold, Margareth Etienne (University of Illinois), and Jacqueline Ross

12:00 – 1:30 p.m.                   
Lunch and meeting with LLM and JSD students

5:00 p.m.                                
Roundtable discussion on The Influence of the European Court of Human Rights on Italian Criminal Procedure

Professor Renzo Orlandi, Professor Joseph Hoffman, Professor Jacqueline Ross, Professor Jason Mazzone, Marianna Biral, Giulia Lasagni, and Alberto Cappellini