NCJ Number
92457
Date Published
1983
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This essay, identifying the content of criminological research in the Federal Republic of Germany, considers the nature and extent of government influence and involvement in the research.
Abstract
Criminological research has broadened in recent years due to the growing diversity of disciplines represented among serious researchers. Currently, there is a balance, as indicated by research requests ranging from unreported crime, traffic, and economic violations to criminal offender analysis and from private justice and the police to sentencing practice and corrections. In the 1970's there were approximately 400 research projects concerned with empirical criminology; the research of 372 involved primary data. Investigations of crime control, including criminal procedures and the impositions and execution of punishment, dominate these research efforts, followed by inquiries into the criminology of individual offenses, and offender oriented investigations. No evidence exists that state agencies are inclined to either corrupt or eliminate 'free academic criminological research.' Political pressures from students that make certain research topics taboo, the right of privacy, and the efforts to protect individuals' records impose more formidable impediments to research than do state officials. German criminologists must prepare to defend their discipline against charges of unproductivity. Such evaluation must consider that West German criminology is in the final phases of a long and difficult development. Deficits in theory development and in theoretically guided research and the hostility researchers display toward application oriented analysis raise cause for concern. Research areas warranting special emphasis in coming years are identified.