Cognitive Forensic Sciences

The course aims to provide the specific theoretical knowledge and professional competences required to operate in the field of Criminology. Its objective is to equip students with the skills necessary to understand deviant and/or criminal behaviour, the dynamics that characterise criminal acts, and major criminal phenomena. Particular attention will be devoted to the offender, the causes and motivations of criminal action, behavioural analysis, and investigative strategies and techniques. Emphasis will be placed on complex criminal phenomena - such as Organised Crime, Mafias, Extremism and Terrorism - as well as on the cyber–social dimensions of crime, Online Hate, and Radicalisation. The course will also include initiatives and meetings with experts, especially in the context of EU project and international cooperation in the fields of security, prevention and countering of crime. Upon completion, students will be able to deconstruct criminal events/phenomena in order to analyse them critically in light of the principal theories and methodological approaches. They will be able to work proficiently in criminological analysis at both the national and international levels. Students will be able to apply, competently and appropriately, the knowledge acquired - both theoretical and methodological - to identify possible solutions to complex applied problems, employing intervention techniques that are well established in the scholarly field. Students will be able to gather and interpret information relevant to formulating independent assessments and scientific and operational hypotheses concerning the topics covered in the course, while taking into account their social and ethical implications. Students will acquire a specific technical lexicon enabling them to communicate, in a scientifically appropriate manner, the course content, their critical analyses, and the logical processes underpinning those analyses. Students will be able to apply, with a high degree of autonomy, the competences acquired in the criminological domain.

Textbook Stephen Jones (2021), Criminology. Oxford University Press Online Papers Arije Antinori (2017), The ‘jihadi wolf’ threat. The evolution of terror narratives between the (cyber-) social ecosystem and self-radicalization “ego-system”, EUROPOL https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/jihadi-wolf-threat Arije Antinori (2019), Terrorism and Deepfake: From Hybrid-Warfare to Post-Truth Warfare in a Hybrid World" in “ECIAIR 2019 - Proceedings of European Conference on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics”, Academic Conferences and Publishing International Ltd (UK) https://rb.gy/ovkpfy