La giustizia di Leonardo Sciascia tra primato della ragione e irrazionalità degli uomini di legge

Stories involving the search for truth in criminal investigations and trials hold a prominent rank in the novels written by Leonardo Sciascia. He does not incline setting his imagination free, as a legal thriller writer, but takes over facts stemming from homicide cases as shown by newspapers or documents stored by public bodies. Entering the criminal justice field in actual operation, Sciascia retraces the steps made by the Enlightenment philosophers. Yet he does not comply with Montesquieu's theory about judges enforcing the law automatically. Indeed, speaking through the mouth of a character depicted in the novel Il giorno della civetta, he argues that those who issue legal orders are dominated by irrational motives. Bias and prejudice which divert law maker decisions from the legal route.

As a consequence, Sciascia makes any effort to illustrate harmful modes of carrying on criminal investigations by using torture and administering sentences contrary to human dignity, as shown by means of an historical background in the novels La strega e il capitano and Morte di un inquisitore. Sciascia suggests the main road to secure the due process values in criminal cases. Policemen, prosecutors and courts should always take into account that justice entails an insight into the heart of those who are adjudicated. [Publisher's text].