Studying international criminal procedure in Italy

Jan 31, 2024
A group of four people pose for a photo in Italy

(From left to right) Second-year law student Sunny Gorba, Professor Michael Vitiello, second-year law student Yanin Ortega, and Claudia Ricci are pictured in Sarnico, Italy. 

In May, having completed her first year at , Yanin Ortega arrived in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy to take up a short-term research post at the University of Parma.

An interest in criminal law in the United States motivated her to look for an international perspective.

Organized through the law school's , Ortega's experience was designed to give her an in-depth understanding of the Italian legal system, research experience and insights into international criminal law.

Ortega worked with Stefano Maffei, a lecturer in criminal procedure at the University of Parma who also teaches at the University of Catanzaro.

"A lot of my research focused on the European Court of Human Rights, where individuals bring claims or challenges to their solitary confinement or their imprisonment, and on how they brought those claims," said Ortega. "It was interesting to see how, although different countries bring these cases, the way that they do the analysis for it is so uniform."

She also had the opportunity to work with Maffei on a week-long conference on international extradition law. That experience sparked her professional interest in the subject.

"There were all of these incredibly smart people from other countries in one room talking about what they specialize in. I thought it was absolutely fascinating and I was so grateful to be a fly on the wall," said Ortega.

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