Antigypsyism, legal culture and sentencing in Italy: A dialogue between sociology of law and critical Romani studies

Abstract

This article analyses the mutually-influencing relations between the dominant stereotypes about Roma and Sinti people on the one hand, and Italy’s internal legal culture and sentencing on the other, taking an approach characterized by two main elements: 1) this topic is examined in relation to the wider European and Italian historical, political and cultural context, since the way in which legal actors see Roma and Sinti people is strongly related to their social and political setting, and the dominant cultural repertoires historically originated; 2) an interdisciplinary approach is adopted, that ensures an exchange between the literature of jurisprudence and the sociology of law on the one hand with that emerging from contexts like anthropology and Critical Romani Studies on the other, drawing particularly on two important studies coordinated by Leonardo Piasere and on some early findings of an analysis underway concerning Roma mothers serving sentences.