Stato di bisogno o condizione di vulnerabilità tra sfruttamento lavorativo, tratta e schiavitù -- Contenuti e metodi fra diritto nazionale e orizzonti internazionali

The article provides a detailed analysis of the “condition of vulnerability” as a constituent element of the offenses of labor exploitment, slavery, and trafficking, enshrined in the Italian Penal Code. Taking ex-tensively into account international and comparative sources, it recommends, as long as the offence definition of the relevant crimes is at stake, a conceptual shift from vulnerability as the absence of “real and acceptable” alternatives to vulnerability as a condition of need, i.e. as an actual absence of means of survival due to the causes of vulnerability. Finally, in order to comply with the nullum crimen principle it advocates a rephrasing of the essentially vague concept of vulnerability, through “indicators” which are widely recognized by international bodies and by the law-in-action of domestic legal orders.