Law enforcement and academic studies in Italy and the United States: a comparison

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article highlights the principal themes addressed in recent Italian and American historical studies of law enforcement, as well as proposals for removing major social obstacles such as discrimination in the police and the policing of social protest, Islamic terrorism and organized crime or the excessive use of force by law enforcement agencies against the citizenship. An introduction to historical studies on the origins of local law enforcement in the United States is followed by a description of the concept of policing, namely the interaction between police and citizens, a subject addressed by most American criminologists, sociologists and historians. On the other hand, Italian jurists and historians have preferred to focus on the history of the Italian state police (Polizia di Stato) or on the national gendarmerie (Arma dei Carabinieri), and to highlight the primarily the critical times of Fascism and the so-called ‘Years of Lead’. The police function to counter crime, but to do so, they adapt themselves to the kind of crime being prosecuted. A comparative overview of the main issues addressed in the two historiographies illustrates how after the 9/11 attacks law enforcement evolved in both the United States and Italy specifically to fight Islamic terrorism, and how new special units have been formed to counter crimes such as drug trafficking and Mafia rackets. But structural changes in local and state law enforcement work are also connected with changes in the authority of the state, suggesting that historians need to explore more closely the connections between security bodies, citizens and social control.