MANY RESPONSIBLE U.S. PENOLOGISTS ARE NOW OPENLY SKEPTICAL REGARDING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRESSIVE CORRECTIONAL PHILOSOPHIES, SUCH AS MINIMUM SECURITY AND OPEN PRISONS, AND ALL TYPES OF TREATMENT- AND REHABILITATION-ORIENTED CORRECTIONS MODELS. OTHER, EQUALLY RESPONSIBLE RESEARCHERS POINT OUT THAT CURRENT EVALUATION METHODS ARE NOT ADEQUATE FOR MEASURING THE SUCCESS OR FAILURE OF THE PENOLOGICAL APPROACHES NOW IN USE. HOWEVER, THE NEW CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES ADVOCATING PENAL SANCTIONS AS A CRIME PREVENTION AND DETERRENCE MEASURE ARE STILL UNPROVED. EVEN MORE QUESTIONABLE IS THE ESPOUSAL BY A LARGE NUMBER OF U.S. CRIMINOLOGISTS OF A PUNISHMENT- AND RETRIBUTION-ORIENTED PENOLOGICAL APPROACH, WHICH CONTENDS THAT CRIMINALS MUST BE PUNISHED FOR THEIR ACTS BECAUSE THEY HAVE UPSET A MORAL BALANCE WHICH CAN ONLY BE RESTORED BY PUNISHMENT. ACCORDING TO THESE CRIMINOLOGISTS, THE 'MEDICAL MODEL' OF PENAL JUSTICE, INVOLVING OFFENDER TREATMENT, SOCIAL DANGEROUSNESS PREDICTIONS, AND INDIVIDUALIZED PENAL SANCTIONS, IS A FAILURE; PSYCHIATRISTS TEND TO OVERPREDICT THE SOCIAL DANGEROUSNESS OF CERTAIN OFFENDERS, THEREBY PUNISHING THEM FOR CRIMES NOT YET COMMITTED (AN IMMORAL ACT); AND INDIVIDUALIZED PENAL SANCTIONS REPRESENT POTENTIAL INJUSTICES AND INEQUITIES, ALLOWING FOR EXCESSIVE JUDICIAL DISCRETION. NEVERTHELESS, THIS NEW PENAL JUSTICE MODEL CAN BE CRITICIZED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS: THE PUNISHMENT AND RETRIBUTION THEORY IS NOT NEW, BUT IS INSTEAD A RETURN TO ARCHAIC CONCEPTS ALREADY OBSOLESCENT IN THE 18TH CENTURY; THE FAILURE OF THE 'MEDICAL MODEL' OF PENAL JUSTICE HAS NOT BEEN PROVED BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, JUST AS THE DETERRENT EFFECT OF PENAL SANCTIONS IS STILL UNPROVED; THE CONCEPTUAL RIGIDITY OF THE PUNISHMENT AND RETRIBUTION MODEL WOULD CAUSE INEQUITIES AND GRAVE INJUSTICES; THE THEORY IS UTOPIAN, REQUIRING A TURNING BACK OF THE PENOLOGICAL BLOCK; AND THE THEORY IS DANGEROUS, BECAUSE IT WOULD PROVOKE THE VIOLENT OPPOSITION OF THE LARGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE CURRENT TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION PROGRAMS WHICH WOULD, OF COURSE, BE DISCONTINUED. THE TREATMENT AND THE PUNISHMENT AND RETRIBUTION APPROACHES NEED NOT BE IRRECONCILABLE, BECAUSE SOME CRIMINALS CLEARLY OUGHT TO BE PUNISHED, WHILE THE MAJORITY OF OFFENDERS CAN BENEFIT FROM REHABILITATION-ORIENTED TREATMENT. AN INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY IS APPENDED. --IN ITALIAN. (LGR)