In 2015-2016, the LUISS School of Law and School of Government are offering a second-level Master in Policies to Fight Corruption and Organized Crime directed by Vice-Provost, Professor Paola Severino and Professor of Sociology and Public Policy Antonio La Spina.
The program provides the theoretic and practical approaches necessary to prevent and repress organized crime and corruption in both the public and private sectors. “We are currently witnessing an increase in the fight against corruption and a change in social consciousness; people are starting to understand the gravity of the problem,” says Professor La Spina. “The master’s program will give students the tools necessary to carry out developments in anti-mafia legislation and contribute to the fight in which the public sphere of our country is ever more committed.”
The decision to offer a joint program between the School of Law and the School of Government came from the need to bring together legal knowledge with empirical analysis of criminal activity and the study of the impact of possible opposition strategies. According to La Spina, the program’s didactic materials include “both policies in constant transformation and the empiric reality of criminal behavior, as it is necessary to know how to effectively apply laws as well as pinpoint the areas of structures and decision-making processes that are the most exposed to criminal activity.”
“It is an initiative that bridges a gap,” explains Professor of Administrative Law Bernando Giorgio Mattarella, one of the didactic coordinators of the program. The courses are directed at civil servants interested in becoming anti-corruption auditors or those in the private sector interested in evaluating public invitations to tender. However, the program is also open to administrative and criminal lawyers as well as those involved in vetting procedures for managers in the public sector.”
“The program focuses on three fields: criminal law, public law and sociology. It is important that the participants come from a variety of different academic and professional fields in order to create a network of professionals that are informed on a field that is not frequently explored in universities, but is important for the evolution of Italian and European policies,” explains Professor Mattarella.
The first edition of the program will focus on general characteristics of anti-corruption and organized crime policies, but will also offer modules that focus on specific career directions, such as the module organized in collaboration with Fondazione Fondirigenti regarding managing businesses and property confiscated from organized crime rings. According to Professor La Spina: “Throughout the course, students will meet with members of important institutions such as Anac and the Direzione Nazionale Antimafia and hear testimony from managers of businesses in order to learn from their experiences in the field, obtain practical knowledge and exemplary codes of ethics.”
“The program,” concludes Professor Severino “is characterized by an integrated approach to the study of the criminal behavior in question; an approach that has been made necessary by the complexity of legislation on the matter as well as the vastness of criminal behavior that the said legislation addresses.” My experience honed in a field adjacent to countering crime in business demonstrates that having a combination of different experiences and fields of knowledge ensures a high level of specialization that is necessary to work in today’s legal field.”