Research Projects
Our criminological research
Below you will find our current research projects, organized by research unit. In addition, there is a list of projects that we have already completed.
Aetiology of Deviance
The research unit Aetiology of Deviance explores behaviour that deviates from social norms (deviance), with a particular emphasis on violations of institutionalized legal norms (criminality). The study focuses on understanding the diverse causes contributing to deviant and criminal behaviour within the group of offenders. Theory-based empirical research is employed, incorporating both microscopic and macroscopic perspectives to examine individual and social factors influencing deviance and criminality. While the aetiological perspective remains central to the research unit’s approach, it also acknowledges and incorporates a constructivist viewpoint.
- Sanctioning norm violations in ethnically plural societies
- Historical roots of crime in international comparison
- Integration and deviance trajectories of immigrant youths
- Regional analysis of right-wing extremism in Schleswig-Holstein 2025
- The role of religiosity in delinquency among Christian and Muslim youths
- Lower Saxony Survey
Victimology
The interdisciplinary research unit “Victimology” investigates crime and deviant behavior with a special focus on individual victims and their social networks, while also considering the societal and systemic implications of criminal and deviant behavior. The research unit thus continues a decades-long tradition of victimological research at the KFN, which has been characterized by large-scale victimization studies on various topics (e.g. burglary or cybercrime) designed to record also crimes that have never been formally reported.
- Between Exigency and Backlash: International Responses to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
- Project on violence and aggression against first responders
- Aggression and Violence against Politicians in Germany. Forms, Spread and Consequences for Individuals and Society
- Coping with experiences of violence in the workplace: individual and work-related perspectives in the prison context
Institutions of Social Control
The interdisciplinary research unit “Institutions of Social Control” primarily focuses on (criminal) enforcement, particularly in the context of penal and custodial measures. However, the unit also examines the work of the criminal justice system and other institutions of social control that respond to norm violations through formalized procedures (e.g., police, youth and family services, sports tribunals). The central focus of the research unit revolves around the conditions for general and specific preventive effects of formal sanctions. Specifically, our research aims to explore the extent to which the intended preventive effects can be achieved through sanctions, and how these effects may be shaped by the characteristics of the sanctions (e.g., different types of sanctions), the offenders (e.g., attribution of impulsivity, affect, competence), and the sanctioning institutions (e.g., perceived legitimacy or experience of procedural justice).
- Transgender people in prison
- What is the impact of the reform of Section 43 StGB (German Criminal Code)? – A study on recidivism following the enforcement of the reduced substitute imprisonment
- Evaluation of the Prostitute Protection Act
- Femicides in Germany
- Coping with experiences of violence in the workplace: individual and work-related perspectives in the prison context
Methods Department
The Methods Department deals with the research methods and statistical procedures used in criminology for the observation, measurement, and analysis of crime phenomena. In three focus areas, methodological developments and questions are addressed from various perspectives.
Completed Projects
- Media use and punitivity
- Public perceptions of repressive violence and its consequences
- Evaluation of the sentencing circumstances designated by law in sec. 46 subs. 2 of the German Criminal Code (StGB) for the purpose of reviewing and facilitating their application in practice (EPa46II)
- “Non-punishment-principle” (NPP): Legal basis and application in Germany
- Nationwide Warning Day 2023
- Client survey regarding transition management from prison to life in society
- Corona Behind Bars (CoBiBar)
- Intimate partner violence against men – from shame to help
- Legal probation after release from open prison – a comparative study
- Prevention and health promotion at vocational schools focused on addictive drug use and internet-related disorders of trainees (PARI)
- Nationwide warning day 2022
- Mistakes and Retrials within Criminal Proceedings
- Psychosocial trial support
- Police-Issued Eviction Order
- Muslims in juvenile justice facilities
- Cybercrime against private users
- The Nordic Modell in the centre of Europe? – Impacts of the Corona-Pandemic in the field of Prostitution
- Catcalling
- Evaluation of the penal provisions combating human trafficking (§§ 232 bis 233a StGB)
- Cyberattacks against companies
- Evaluation for the storage personal data of minors (Article 33 paragraph 2 VSG NRW) (EDaMi)
- The development of criminal activity amongst the non-German population in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein
- Strategies for the prevention of left-wing extremism in Lower Saxony
- Radicalisation within the digital age (RadigZ)
- Pericles
- Special evaluation of adolescent consumer behavior and the use of addiction preventive offers in Lower Saxony
- Rocker crime
- Klasse2000 (Class2000)
- Prejudice-Related Crime
- Organized Crime concerning Domestic Burglary
- Evaluation of the youth restitution in Lower Saxony
- Forensic Psychiatry in Lower Saxony
- Evaluation of police video surveillance in public places in NRW (§ 15a PolG NRW)
- Update of regional analyses of right-wing extremism in Schleswig-Holstein
- Immigration to Lower Saxony
- Media Protect
- Analysis of trends in crime committed by immigrants in Schleswig-Holstein
- Data analysis and documentation of the self-report survey in Schleswig-Holstein
- Prevention and treatment of substance and non-substance addictions in Lower Saxony
- Evaluation of the youth detention in Schleswig-Holstein
- Everyday experience and settings of refugees in Lower Saxony (ALFiN)
- Prevention and intervention in human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation (PRIMSA)
- Pro Kind Follow up
- Homicide of children aged 6-13 years in Germany
- Transient burglars
- Evalutation of the newly introduced option of youth detention in conjunction with youth penalty suspended on probation (shock detention)
- Criminological comparative regional analysis of burglary
- Internet and video game addiction
- Violence against police officers on operational and patrol duty in Lower Saxony
- Sexual abuse by Catholic clerics
- Victim survey 2011
- Homicide of children aged 0–5 years in Germany
- Victimisation in prison
- The effect of the demographic change on crime trends and the work of police, justice, detention and probation service
- Media use and school achievement
- Pro Kind
- Violence against police officers (2005–2009)
- Developmental consequences of incarceration
- Fear of crime among older persons
- Media in childhood
- Video game age ratings in Germany
- Fragile Transitions: The integration of young men with prison experience into work and training
- The influence of heroin prescription on the delinquency of opiate addicts
- Evaluation of ‘LoGo’ Antiaggression Training Courses
- Elderly victims of sexual violence: A neglected victim group?
- Evaluation of the BISS counselling and intervention centres for victims of domestic violence
- Migration and Crime
- The consequences of incarceration
- Working in correctional institutions
- Causes of divergent developments in imprisonment rates
- Police in the progress of change
- Evaluating treatment of young sex offenders
- Violence against police officers (1985–2000)
- From talking about them to talking with them…
- Needle exchange programme in the City of Hamburg prison system
- Ambulant sanctions for juvenile offenders
- Victimisation and trust in the system