Enforcement of criminal penalties and imprisonment: comparison of legal systems

This paper focuses on criminal penalties and imprisonment, comparing Romanian and Italian legal systems. In a setting where a growing number of EU countries are sentenced by the European Court of Human Rights due the violation of the Article 3 of the ECHR, it makes an attempt to describe the common problems and the existing diversities between European penal institutions. In particular, on the basis of these explorations, it discusses the inhuman and degrading treatment inflicted on people in prison overcrowding situations, as well as the violation of their human rights not justified by the purposes connected with the enforcement of judgements. Moreover, this paper aims to show, in a de jure condendo perspective, some solutions to the "evils" of the judicial systems, based on rehabilitative and social reintegration purposes typical of criminal penalties. To give a complete overview concerning this concrete question, the authors have chosen a multidisciplinary approach that ranges from international and comparative law to criminal and penitentiary procedural law. The hope is that this paper may contribute to the international debate.