NCJ Number
159110
Journal
EuroCriminology Volume: 8-9 Dated: special issue (1995) Pages: 5-21
Date Published
1995
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The first influences on German criminology and the practice of penal law came from Anglo-American penology; compared to the narrow criminal-biological, psychopathological approach, the more open social-structural, social-psychological approach has become generally accepted in German criminology.
Abstract
In this process, academic disputes have not always been conducted fairly and, in view of German history, this is not surprising. Nonetheless, German criminology has caught up with international developments and has assimilated sociological, social-psychological, and psychoanalytical influences, and criminal-biology is not completely excluded. German criminology assumes, for example, that genetic elements and brain malfunction influence criminal careers, although empirical evidence for this is sparse. The impact of psychoanalysis in the United States is addressed, and criminal-sociology and psychology in German- speaking countries and North America is compared. The criminological isolation of German-speaking countries is noted, as well as the influence of German and Anglo-American criminology on each other since the 1950's. 86 references