Helmut Kury

Reporting of crime to the police in the Federal Republic of Germany: A comparison of the old and the new lands

A victimization survey of 7,026 households in the former east and west German Lander (states) carried out one year after the unification of Germany presented a unique opportunity to examine factors associated with the reporting of crime to the police. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with variation in the dependent variable, reporting of crime to the police, controlling for victimizations which occurred prior to and subsequent to unification, as well as whether the victim resided in the former east or west German Lander. The amount of loss in German Marks or seriousness of physical injury were the principle determinants of whether a crime was reported to the police.

The Position of the Victim in Criminal Procedure — Results of a German Study

In the last few years, the crime victim has moved into the forefront of criminological research and criminal justice policy. This is a worldwide development. In many countries, including the Federal Republic of Germany, victim protection and victim compensation laws have been enacted. The extent to which such legal steps effect an actual improvement of the victims situation remains largely unexamined. This paper presents the results of a German research project which examined the influence of the recently revised German victim protection law upon criminal law practice. Judges, prosecutors and lawyers were surveyed. A clear resistance by judges and prosecutors was discerned relative to implementing the victim protection rights. For them, the victim is still an outsider and a ‘trouble maker’ within the criminal proceedings. They see increased victim attention as involving additional trouble, effort, time, and possibly creating longer delays in proceedings. In contrast, the attitudes of the attorneys were more favorable toward including the victim in the criminal justice process.

Prisoner-on-prisoner violence: Victimization of young offenders in prison

This article will discuss new findings relating to prisoner-on-prisoner violence from Germany. The juxtaposition of victim and victimizer, deeply embedded in the prisonization culture, will be given careful consideration. It will be argued that victimology has largely concentrated on `conventional crime, which, in turn, has created and generated certain limitations regarding the concepts of `good and `evil and `acceptable and `non-acceptable victims. While there are a number of studies concentrating on prison violence per se, research of this kind has been limited in Germany, particularly studies that focus on young offender institutions. Previously under-researched fear of victimization among prisoners will also be discussed, supported by results from a study at the North German Young Offender Institution Hamlin (Jugendanstalt Hameln). This article will focus, inter alia, on non-consensual sexual assaults, which remains a taboo subject in prison managerial cultures.

Domestic Violence: Recent Developments in German and English Legislation and Law Enforcement

Domestic violence: recent developments in German and English legislation and law enforcement

Umsetzung von Mindestanforderungen für Prognosegutachten in der Praxis

ZusammenfassungKriminalprognostische Gutachten über Gewalt- und Sexualstraftäter stehen zunehmend im öffentlichen und im gesellschaftspolitischen Fokus und sehen sich einer intensiveren Diskussion hinsichtlich ihrer Qualität ausgesetzt. Die Durchsicht der Forschungsliteratur zeigt, dass sich zahlreiche Hinweise auf eine heterogene Gutachtenqualität finden lassen. Seit der Veröffentlichung von Mindestanforderungen für Prognosegutachten einer interdisziplinären Arbeitsgruppe liegen bislang keine empirischen Belege darüber vor, ob und in welcher Form diese auch in der Praxis umgesetzt werden. Anhand eines Erhebungsbogens wurde die Einhaltung dieser Mindestanforderungen für Prognosegutachten von Gewalt- und Sexualstraftätern aus der Justizvollzugsanstalt Freiburg und der Abteilung für Forensische Psychiatrie der Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Nxa0= 502) der Erstellungszeiträume von 1999 bis 2002 und von 2008 bis 2011 in Abhängigkeit von der Profession bzw. Institutsangebundenheit der Sachverständigen, der Prognoserichtung, der Fragestellung, der Anlassdelikte sowie im zeitlichen Verlauf vor bzw. nach der Veröffentlichung der Mindestanforderungen analysiert. Darauf aufbauend wurden die günstig gerichteten Prognosegutachten anhand der prognostischen Trefferquoten laut Bundeszentralregisterauszug (Stand Juni 2016) validiert und in Kontext mit der Einhaltung der formulierten Mindestanforderungen gesetzt. Es zeigte sich zusammenfassend, dass die Mindestanforderungen im Gegensatz zur universitären Institution in der externen gutachterlichen Praxis nur teilweise berücksichtigt werden. Die Einhaltung der Mindestanforderungen stand dabei in einem positiven Zusammenhang mit der prognostischen Trefferquote günstig gerichteter Prognosegutachten laut Bundeszentralregister. Dies spricht für einen weiteren Handlungsbedarf im Hinblick auf die gutachterliche Qualitätssicherung.AbstractRisk assessment reports about violent and sexual offenders are an increasing issue of public and sociopolitical concern and are regularly and intensively discussed with respect to the methodological quality. A review of the research literature distinctly shows several indications for axa0heterogeneous quality of these expert witness reports. Since the publication of methodological minimum requirements for risk assessment reports by an interdisciplinary working group in 2006 in Germany, there have been no empirical investigations on whether these requirements have been put into clinical practice and whether the quality of risk assessment reports has increased. The implementation of these methodological minimum requirements for risk assessment reports of violent and sexual offenders from the penitentiary in Freiburg and the Department of Forensic Psychiatry of the University Hospital Munich (Nxa0= 502) from 1999 to 2002 and from 2008 to 2011 was analyzed on the basis of axa0questionnaire concerning the professional background and institutional affiliation of expert witnesses, of the final prediction assessment, the central prognostic issue, the index offence, and the questions whether the report was written before or after the publication of the methodological minimum requirements for risk assessment reports. Based on this, the positively directed risk assessments were validated by actual recidivism according to the records of the Federal Central Register (June 2016) and were related to the degree of implementation of the abovementioned minimum requirements. The results showed that there was axa0slight increase in the quality of the analyzed risk assessment reports which can be related to the publication of the minimum requirements. Furthermore, the consideration of the minimum requirements was positively correlated with officially registered recidivism. Taken together, the results indicate the need for further discussions about quality management in the field of forensic psychiatry and psychology.

The Changing Face of Germany's Crime Rate since Unification

Helmut Kury and Ursula Smartt analyse the real crime figures that have emerged since East and West Germany joined a little over a decade ago.

Prisoner-on-prisoner violence

This article will discuss new findings relating to prisoner-on-prisoner violence from Germany. The juxtaposition of victim and victimizer, deeply embedded in the prisonization culture, will be given careful consideration. It will be argued that victimology has largely concentrated on `conventional crime, which, in turn, has created and generated certain limitations regarding the concepts of `good and `evil and `acceptable and `non-acceptable victims. While there are a number of studies concentrating on prison violence per se, research of this kind has been limited in Germany, particularly studies that focus on young offender institutions. Previously under-researched fear of victimization among prisoners will also be discussed, supported by results from a study at the North German Young Offender Institution Hamlin (Jugendanstalt Hameln). This article will focus, inter alia, on non-consensual sexual assaults, which remains a taboo subject in prison managerial cultures.