Abstract

The essay takes inspiration from A.M. Platt’s work about the “inventionµ of juvenile delinquency to analyze the “messa alla provaµ for minors, a kind of judiciary “probationµ introduced in Italy over thirty years ago. This probation measure has a high success rate in terms of trial (extinction of the crime), but this is not enough to say that it is really effective. The author highlights the strengths and weaknesses of this tool that “hybridizesµ the criminal with the social and hopes that national monitoring of its application can also be accompanied by qualitative follow-up analyses.