How crime is measured, and what the measuring leaves out.
Practise this list
From these 27 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.
More about this list
The twenty-third entry is la criminalità dei colletti bianchi, and it is the one term on this list that Italian did not build for itself. It is a loan translation of « white-collar crime », a phrase coined by the American sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 and carried from there into one European language after another. The image is a shirt. The collar of a man who worked in an office was starched and white because the work never dirtied it, while the man in the workshop wore blue. English keeps the whole pair alive — a « white-collar job », a « blue-collar town » — and Italian has taken the family with it, so i colletti bianchi now names the office staff themselves and not only their offences. What the borrowing quietly hides is that il colletto on its own is the ordinary collar of a shirt, and nothing more. A reader who meets i colletti bianchi in a newspaper and thinks of laundry has understood the words and missed the term, which is the standing cost of a calque: the parts stay transparent long after the whole has stopped being literal.
La criminalità registrata cresce quando la gente denuncia di più.Recorded crime rises when people report more.
l’indagine di vittimizzazionethe victimisation surveyNoun (f)C2
L’indagine di vittimizzazione chiede alle persone e non agli uffici.The victimisation survey asks people rather than offices.
la quota di casi risoltithe clear-up rateNoun (f)C2
La quota di casi risolti dipende anche da quanto è facile trovare l’autore.The clear-up rate also depends on how easy the offender is to find.
la desistenza dal reatodesistance from crimeNoun (f)C2
La desistenza dal reato arriva spesso con un lavoro stabile.Desistance from crime often arrives with steady work.
la recidivitàreoffendingNoun (f)C2
La recidività si misura su un periodo fisso dopo il rilascio.Reoffending is measured over a fixed period after release.
la carriera criminalethe criminal careerNoun (f)C2
Una carriera criminale comincia presto e finisce prima dei capelli bianchi.A criminal career starts early and ends before the hair turns white.
la teoria delle attività di routineroutine activity theoryNoun (f)C2
La teoria delle attività di routine mette insieme autore, occasione e assenza di controllo.Routine activity theory brings offender, opportunity and absent guardian together.
la struttura delle opportunitàthe opportunity structureNoun (f)C2
La struttura delle opportunità spiega perché certi luoghi ripetono gli stessi reati.The opportunity structure explains why certain places see the same offences again and again.
la prevenzione situazionalesituational crime preventionNoun (f)C2
La prevenzione situazionale cambia il luogo e non la persona.Situational crime prevention changes the place and not the person.
la polizia predittivapredictive policingNoun (f)C2
La polizia predittiva ripete i dati del passato.Predictive policing repeats the data of the past.
la giustizia proceduraleprocedural justiceNoun (f)C2
La giustizia procedurale riguarda il come e non il risultato.Procedural justice is about the how and not about the outcome.
la legittimitàlegitimacyNoun (f)C2
La legittimità nasce dal trattamento che si è ricevuto.Legitimacy grows out of the treatment a person has been given.
L’efficacia collettiva è la disponibilità dei vicini a intervenire.Collective efficacy is the readiness of neighbours to step in.
la giustizia riparativarestorative justiceNoun (f)C2
La giustizia riparativa mette a confronto chi ha subito e chi ha agito.Restorative justice brings the one who was harmed and the one who acted face to face.
la linea guida per la penathe sentencing guidelineNoun (f)C2
La linea guida per la pena riduce le differenze fra giudici.The sentencing guideline narrows the differences between judges.
la criminalità dei colletti bianchiwhite-collar crimeNoun (f)C2
La criminalità dei colletti bianchi lascia carte e non tracce.White-collar crime leaves papers behind and no traces.
la criminalità organizzataorganised crimeNoun (f)C2
La criminalità organizzata vive anche di attività legali.Organised crime lives off lawful business too.
la criminalità informaticacybercrimeNoun (f)C2
La criminalità informatica non conosce confini.Cybercrime knows no borders.
la paura del criminethe fear of crimeNoun (f)C2
La paura del crimine cresce anche quando i reati calano.The fear of crime grows even when offences are falling.
la valutazione dell’interventothe evaluation of the interventionNoun (f)C2
La valutazione dell’intervento ha bisogno di un gruppo di confronto.The evaluation of the intervention needs a comparison group.
