Education,Professor and Judicial Career
Papa graduated cum laude at the University of Federico II di Napoli in 1990 with a thesis on trade law.
In 1991,Mr. Papa was an assistant for Professor Gianfranco Campobasso and Professor Carlo Di Nanni. He taught as a professor of Criminal Law at the L.U.M. University in Bari and as a professor of “The History of Criminal Organizations”at the Universitarian Institute “Suor Orsola Benincasa”in Naples.
In 1993 Papa started his eight-year judiciary career as a judicial prosecutor being first assigned in Naples where he worked on cases related to drugs,terrorism,organized crime and public administration. In Rome,Papa covered the position of Deputy Chief of Cabinet for the Minister of Justice Roberto Castelli and subsequently General Director of Civil Justice with Minister of Justice Clemente Mastella. Papa was very active in the Italian National Association of Judges,becoming a member and serving as Vice Secretary General from 1999 to 2001. Papa,who was 23 years old in 1993,is still the youngest-ever holder of an Italian judgeship.
As a direct result of Papa's experience from the false charges levied against him,he has embarked on a campaign to fight for justice and prison reforms,including prison overcrowding in Italy. From time to time Papa does Italian prison inspection visits and in carrying on other initiatives aimed at raising awareness about an issue the Italian Head of State defined as "overbearing urgency".
With the support from Italy's Libertarian Party of Marco Panella,Papa has been supporting the need for amnesty because "who opposes amnesty also opposes the hope of reforming justice". [12]
During Alfonso Papa's tenure as a member of the Italian Parliament,he proposed a bill to limit the use of pre-trial detention to violent crimes and serious social crimes,setting out a number of safeguards for detainees awaiting trial,including the separation of spaces for convicted prisoners and those who are not,the maximum duration of six months of detention without trial and the mandatory presence of a judge during interrogations.
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