Vittorio Sassi
I am Vittorio Sassi, a PhD student at Bocconi University in Milan. Prior to joining Bocconi, I earned a Law Degree from the University of Pavia and worked in the criminal law department at the law firm BonelliErede in Milan. After deciding to pursue further studies, I obtained a Master's degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Oxford.
Currently, I am a PhD student at Bocconi University and serve as an assistant specialised in criminal law matters at the Italian Constitutional Court. Also, I am a Teaching Assistant in two courses at Bocconi: one on criminal law and human rights, and another on the criminological aspects of white-collar crime.
My research interests lie in the field of criminal justice, focusing primarily on topics such as the theory of punishment, sentencing, the politics of crime control, and the general principles and philosophy of criminal law. I am also passionate about human rights law, in its intersections with criminal law.
For my PhD research project, I am concentrating on life imprisonment, proposing a reconceptualization of the punishment based on a post-structuralist approach. My research activities involve both the development of an original conceptual framework and its practical verification through qualitative-quantitative analysis of empirical data.
I have been a member of the Bar of Milan since November 2021.
vittorio.sassi@phd.unibocconi.it
Bocconi University
Via Roentgen 1
20136 Milan, Italy
room 1 C3-2
Experiences
Oct. 2025-Jul. 2026
Corte Costituzionale della Repubblica
2024-ongoing
Bocconi
Sep-Dec 2024
Oxford
2023-ongoing
Bocconi
2022-2023
Oxford
2019-2021
BonelliErede
Stagiaire conducting legal research in criminal law matters at the Italian Constitutional Court
Teaching Assistant in Criminal Law and Criminology (lectures and exams)
Academic Visitor at the Centre for Criminology (Faculty of Law) - Supervisor: Prof Hoyle
PhD course in Legal Studies - Supervisors: Profs Basile & Viganò / Co-supervisor: Prof Lernestedt
MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice - St. Hilda's College - Supervisors: Profs Ullrich/Hoyle
Stagiaire, trainee and then associate in the Corporate Criminal Law Department, Milan office
2013-2019
Pavia
Mar-May 2018
University College London
Jul-Aug 2017
King's College London
Laurea Magistrale in Giurisprudenza (5 years Law Degree) - Thesis Supervisor: Prof Seminara
Erasmus Traineeship at the Faculty of Law - Supervisor: Prof Dsouza
Summer school “Criminology and Criminal Justice”
Publications&Conferences/Seminars
Cambridge Criminology PhD Conference 2026 (Institute of Criminology, Cambridge University) on 28-29 April 2026. I gave a presentation titled Interviewing Lifers Over the Phone. A Methodological Testimony.
SASSI V., Trasferimento fraudolento di valori, misure di prevenzione e principio di offensività: l’orizzonte elusivo dell’art. 512-bis del codice penale' (2025) in La Legislazione Penale, fasc. 3.2, pp. 191 ss.
SASSI V., 'Non è incostituzionale l’abrogazione dell’abuso d’ufficio, ma per la Consulta si creano “indubbi vuoti di tutela”' (2025) in IUS Penale (15 luglio 2025)
SASSI V., 'Il nuovo reato di rivolta in carcere introdotto dal DL Sicurezza n. 48/2025' (2025) in Sistema Penale, fasc. 7-8, 39 ss.
Guest Lecture at Stockholm University (Department of Criminology) on 24 April 2025 titled "Is life imprisonment the new death penalty?": https://www.su.se/department-of-criminology/calendar/guest-lecture-vittorio-sassi-1.816760
SASSI V., 'Beccaria who? A brief look at the life and thought of Cesare Beccaria' (2024) University of Oxford DPRU Research Paper No. 5
Roundtable titled "The Death Penalty: the next 10 years" organised by the Death Penalty Research Unit of the University of Oxford and the Death Penalty Project at Simons, Muirhead and Burton (London) on 15 Nov. 2024. I gave a presentation titled "Life Imprisonment: the Next Abolitionist Challenge?" about my PhD project.
SASSI V., 'Is life without parole 'the new death penalty'? Reformulating the identity critique' (2023) University of Oxford DPRU Research Paper No. 4
SBISÀ F. - SASSI V., ‘Responsabilità degli enti ex d.lgs. 231/2001: le novità introdotte dal d.Lgs. 75/2020 in vigore da oggi’ (2020) Quotidiano Giuridico (accessed 30 July 2020)
SBISÀ F. - MALNATI E. - SASSI V., ‘Il procedimento a carico dell’ente’, in SBISÀ F. - SPINELLI E. (eds), Responsabilità amministrativa degli enti (d.lgs. 231/2001) (Wolters Kluwer 2020)
SASSI V., ‘Responsabilità ex 231/2001 in caso di reato ambientale: le nozioni di interesse e vantaggio’ (2020) Quotidiano Giuridico (accessed 5 February 2020)
SASSI V., ‘Sicurezza cibernetica e responsabilità ex D.Lgs. 231/2001: la nuova fattispecie del D.L. 105/2019’ (2019) Quotidiano Giuridico (accessed 9 October 2019)
SBISÀ F. - SASSI V., ‘Interruzione del termine prescrizionale e diritto di difesa dell’ente nel D.Lgs. 231/2001’ (2019) Quotidiano Giuridico (accessed 2 August 2019)
SBISÀ F. - SASSI V., ‘Il recente percorso dei reati di riciclaggio e autoriciclaggio dalla Voluntary disclosure alle criptovalute’ (2019) 19 IANUS 71
SASSI V., ‘Il concorso esterno nel caso Chiriaco’, in SEMINARA S.- RUGGIERI F. - VITTORINI S. (eds), Sentenza infinito – Analisi del rapporto fra mafia e malasanità (CLEUP 2018)