Volume 94 Issue 6 (December) 2011
Content
Articles
Religionszugehörigkeit, Religiosität und delinquentes Verhalten Jugendlicher
[Religious Affiliation, Religiosity, and Juvenile Delinquent Behavior]
by Katrin Brettfeld and Peter Wetzels
[in German language]
Abstract
This paper focuses on the impact of religion and religiosity on juvenile delinquency. It begins with a brief overview about the criminological and theoretical basis, explaining why religiosity may have an effect on delinquency. Outcomes from previous studies as well as the actual hypotheses are discussed and presented. Two hypotheses derived from international research on the differential effects of individual religiosity on different kinds of crime and the social process that cause the effects of religiosity on delinquent behavior (Type of Crime-Hypothesis and Social Control-Hypothesis) are analyzed using representative survey data from 9th graders (N = 3,517). Additionally, the paper explores whether religiosity has different effects for young migrants with an Islamic religious affiliation compared to Christian migrants and autochthon Christian juveniles. Religiosity is found to display a moderate to large effect towards reducing juvenile delinquency. The effect differs for different kinds of deviant behavior. Only by using the incidence – instead of the prevalence – it can be shown, that religiosity negatively affects rates of violent behavior not only for Christians but for young Muslims too. The effects of religiosity to a large extent are mediated by processes of informal social control associated with religion.
Keywords: Juvenile delinquency, religion, religiosity, social control, self-control
pp. 409-430
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Terrorismus entmystifizieren
Innovative Gewaltforschung als Schlüssel zum Verstehen politischer Gewalt
[Demystifying Terrorism
Innovative violence research as a key to understanding political violence]
by Anna-Maria Getoš
[in German language]
Abstract
Whether it is the unattended baggage at the railway station, the annoying security-check at the airport, or the terror alert itself – rarely do criminological phenomena affect our everyday lives so massively as in the case of terrorism. Even more rarely does scientific research fail so miserably in its efforts to provide answers, just because the wrong questions are being asked. The myth that the causes of political violence can be traced back to the area of the political has led us down the wrong path. Indeed, based on this line of reasoning it would be just as plausible to claim that the causes and answers to property crime can be found in the property itself. Innovative violence research no longer asks »Why?«, but instead focuses on »How?«. It investigates violence where it happens, it enables contact to offenders and victims, and it studies the »important >facts< of violence« (v. Trotha 1997, 25). Innovative violence research demystifies political violence and understands it as it really is, and not as we would like it to be. Using the example of political violence, the article analyzes whether the methodological concepts of innovative violence research (so called »thick description of violence«) make it possible to grasp, and, if not to explain, to at least demystify otherwise hardly comprehensible criminological phenomena, such as terrorism.
Keywords: Violence research, political violence, terrorism, Balkans
pp. 431-451
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Untersuchungshaft in Europa: Probleme im Rechts(tatsachen)vergleich
[Remand Detention in Europe: Problems in a Comparative View]
by Christine Morgenstern
[in German language]
Abstract
In many European states a large proportion of the prison population consists of remand detainees, many of whom are foreigners. A closer look at the situation reveals that a comparison of data is only possible to a certain extent because the scope and definition of »remand detention« are not congruent in all European jurisdictions. Bearing these distinctions in mind, however, common problems and trends as well as diverging developments will be discussed in this article. Examples from several European states that highlight the impact of remand detention on the overall prison population are interpreted in the context of the punitivity discourse. Understanding these developments is necessary if transnational problems with regard to remand detention are to be properly solved.
Keywords: Remand detention, comparative criminology and criminal justice, transnational cooperation
pp. 452-473
Research Notes
Opferbelange und Kriminalpolitik
Erkenntnisse aus der wissenschaftlichen Begleitung der »Unabhängigen Beauftragten zur Aufarbeitung des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs«
[Victim Issues and Criminal Policy
Findings from an academic study on sexual child abuse]
by Andrea Kliemann and Jörg M. Fegert
[in German language]
Abstract
In the wake of a 2010 »sex abuse scandal« in Germany, the federal government established the position of an »Independent commissioner for the processing of sexual child abuse claims« (»Unabhängige Beauftragte zur Aufarbeitung des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs«) and a helpline for persons concerned. If the persons who called the helpline gave their informed consent, then the incoming calls were also used for a research project. The quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed content of the calls formed the second part of two interim reports, which have since been incorporated into the current (criminal) political debates about sexual child abuse in dependency and power relations. 4,725 usable data sets could thus far be obtained. In 1,042 of these data sets, criminal procedures were explicitly discussed. The present article provides an overview of the experiences of victims and their relatives. Most of those who called expressed explicit suggestions and proposals for the political process. Improved opportunities for therapy and professional advice and the recognition of the injustices experienced were the main themes, followed on by calls for adequate compensation and an extension of the period of criminal limitation.
Keywords: Sexual child abuse, criminal limitation period, obligation to disclose
pp. 474-486
Conference Proceedings
47. Kolloquium der Südwestdeutschen und Schweizerischen Kriminologischen Institute und Lehrstühle
by Ulrike Auerbach
p. 487-494
Coming Events
p. 495
Book Reviews
Dünkel, Frieder/Lappi-Seppälä/Morgenstern, Christine/van Zyl Smit, Dirk (Hrsg.)
Kriminalität, Kriminalpolitik, strafrechtliche Sanktionspraxis und Gefangenenraten im europäischen Vergleich
Forum Verlag Godesberg GmbH, Mönchengladbach 2010, 1126 Seiten, 2 Bände
von Helmut Kury, Freiburg
pp. 496-500
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Puschke, Jens (Hrsg.)
Strafvollzug in Deutschland
Strukturelle Defizite, Reformbedarf und Alternativen
Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2011, 178 Seiten
von Ineke Pruin, Greifswald
pp. 500-503
Seite aktualisiert: 09.01.2012 u.auerbach@mpicc.de
