[Relations between social defense and criminological trends from the 1930s until today]

This study is intended to analyze the historical evolution of criminological schools, in the background, wider and more articulated, of a research by the National Council for Scientific Research directed to probing the outlines of the social defence concept. The work, then, proceeds in the field of criminology and, more particularly, of the evolution of criminological currents which, without defining aims, we will name classical to tell them from the original criminology, of positivistic imprint, and from the new criminology of critical, radical or marxist inspiration, whose examination in entrusted to another research unit. The method followed was that of the historical research with reference to the selected period and with a constant relation, in text and notes, to the enunciations of the examined Authors, considered essential. For such purpose, that is to say for more accuracy in references, it was considered convenient to have the text followed, not only by an ample bibliographical index, but also by an appendix of texts considered particularly significant in the documentation field.