Enrico Ferri on the criminal process

The article examines the views of the outstanding Italian criminologist Enrico Ferri on various issues of criminal justice, expressed in “Criminal Sociology”. It analyzes his arguments concerning the goals of justice, stability of the criminal code, the need for unity of civil and military justice. The article offers counterarguments against Enrico Ferri’s list of exceptions to the principle of the presumption of innocence. At the same time the views of the thinker concerning the expediency of abandoning the principle of collegiality and the jury trial are of certain interest. His ideas on three types of sentences (acquittal, indictment and under suspicion) and on the need to reason the final act of justice have been considered. Enrico Ferri’s thoughts on the amnesty and pardon, rehabilitation, revision of acquittals, possibility of stricter sentence in verification proceedings, etc. are obviously enriching the science of the criminal process. This article may be of interest to anyone who is engaged in the issues of criminal procedure, criminal law, and criminology, as well as the history of these legal sciences.