The Criminology Museum was established by the Prison Administration seventy years ago, thus realizing a project that had already been conceived in the late nineteenth century as a useful means of studying the penal and prison system, as well as a scientific tool for training officers and magistrates, and for educational purposes. For several decades the Criminology Museum was highly acclaimed also abroad due to the rich historical and scientific legacy it conserved. The historical events that followed, however, obliged it to reduce its activities until it finally had to close, although the museum was restructured and opened to the public once more in 1994.Today there is a renewed interest in the study of penitentiary systems and criminology, and the Criminology Museum, which now provides valuable historical evidence, enables the Prison Administration to preserve and protect a legacy and wealth of documentation that is unique in Italy, part of which is presented in this volume. Among the many interesting items on display there are early instruments of torture and of execution that testify to the cruelty of former penal systems as opposed to the aims of punishment now enshrined in the Italian Constitution, which are the principles on which current Penitentiary Law is founded.
This is just one aspect of the Criminology Museum’s fascinating itinerary, which offers food for thought to those who wish to explore themes that concern the less-well-known aspects of Italian history. The history of imprisonment and of justice can also be recounted through preserving the memory that resides in places, objects, photographs and written documents, and in this way it is possible to provide the younger generations with tools for interpreting a reality that, for the most part, is unknown.
http://www.museocriminologico.it/
