Moving Beyond Guilt Determination: A Step Towards Alternative Dispute Resolution?

• In Event: Crime, Science and Politics WG Panel 10: Identity, Discrimination, and Changing Justice Norms

Abstract

In recent decades, the Italian criminal justice system has increasingly adopted mechanisms such as diversion, plea bargaining, mediation, and restorative justice, which bypass the determination of guilt by interrupting proceedings before a conviction. This shift raises important questions regarding the extent to which the legal system is willing to forgo determining guilt.
My paper aims to explore three main issues:
a) whether it’s possible to overcome the guilt assessment;
b) whether such a renunciation aligns with the evolution of the criminal justice system towards reducing retributive tendencies and promoting alternative goals, moving away from a punishment-oriented system;
c) whether overcoming guilt determination can promote both a treatment-focused approach and a victim-centred, socially inclusive justice model, capable to rebuild social relationships.
The paper begins by analysing various guilt determination models; then it maps mechanisms that overcome guilt determination, examining their rationale, to clarify if the need of judicial truth could be recessive in front of the need to healing social hurts.
It will also evaluate, through criminological and sociological insights, whether such changes can benefit or disadvantage the parties involved, facilitating a transition toward a reparative and rehabilitative paradigm that addresses crime through conflict management rather than stigmatizing offenders.
In particular, the analysis will focus on the purposes associated with alternative justice forms, including deflation, rehabilitation, social reintegration and reparation, to assess their relationship with criminal justice stakeholders: the offender, the victim, and the affected community.
Each objective holds different significance for these parties and may complement gaps in protection for those considered ‘secondary’ recipients of justice. By shifting towards alternative conflict resolution mechanisms, the absence of a formal guilt determination is compensated by a broader goal: recognizing the victim's role within the community, moving away from a punitive view, and transforming justice into a new paradigm of social reconstruction.

Author

• Alice Angelini, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria