Stato di necessità, tecniche di neutralizzazione e attendibilità delle dichiarazioni testimoniali: tre spunti di riflessione giuridica dalla lettura delle opere di Daniel Defoe.

[Autom. eng. transl.] The contribution examines, through the analysis of some masterpieces of the literary production of Daniel Defoe, some aspects of legal relevance that emerge within these works. In particular, the figure of the state of necessity is analyzed, as a situation capable of excluding the attribution of criminal responsibility to the agent. Subsequently, the analysis deals with a classic profile of the criminological analysis of the genesis of crime, namely that of the "neutralization techniques" through which the offender makes deviant behavior psychologically and morally acceptable, first of all for himself. Finally, the essay examines a delicate profile of the procedural ascertainment of criminal responsibility, relating to the credibility of witness evidence, indicating how it is possible to trace, within the contrast between the "factual" dimension and the "fictional" dimension that is frequently found in Defoe's novels, a valuable key to understanding this problem even within the criminal trial.