NCJ Number
169836
Date Published
1995
Length
256 pages
Annotation
This social-scientific study of crime patterns and crime factors in Germany between 1871 and 1914 shows that neither urban environments themselves nor the change in modern societies from predominantly rural to urban "causes" crime. ABSt The period for the study (1871-1914) was the period of Germany's industrial revolution and emergence as a world power. This study explores crime patterns; criminal justice institutions and practices; and popular and elite attitudes toward crime, criminals, and criminal justice authorities during this period. Criticizing as largely conservative and elitist in origin the concept that cities in themselves cause crime, this study shows that the real roots of crime in German society are to be found in a mix of economic hardship, ethnic bias, and political repression, conditions that conscious political decisions, law, and legal officials can either help overcome or make worse. In examining how the crime drama was played out in Imperial Germany, the book credits German law, judges, police, and populace for their technical expertise, high intellectual level, and orderly nature. It also indicts them for launching Germany on a dangerous path that would allow German judges and police in the mid-20th century to claim that they were acting only in the well- respected tradition of legal positivism. Chapter notes and a subject index