Legal Design, Criminal Law and Social Empowerment

This contribution explores the concept of citizen empowerment within the context of Italian criminal law, utilising graphical tools to visualize legal information. Building on legal design literature, the authors, experts in Communication Design and Comparative Law, examine how to make the Italian criminal justice system more accessible and supportive, helping individuals recognize the crime of ‘mafia association,’ understand its mechanisms and impact, and effectively navigate legal channels to report, challenge, and protect themselves from such influence. The starting point is the analysis of two case studies, which have been deepened during the Communication and Graphic Design Laboratory led by Luciano Perondi, with the collaboration of Andrea Lancia, and the participation of Barbara Pasa and LIBERA’s lawyer Marco Lombardo. The case studies under scrutiny pertain to the criminal act of ‘mafia association of Camorra-style’ in the Venetian area (the so-called Casalesi di Eraclea trial) and in the Padua area (the so-called Aspide trial), in the northeastern part of Italy.