Newsletter of the CRIMINOLOGY IN EUROPE VOL. 4 • NO. 3 ... · Newsletter of the EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYCRIMINOLOGY IN EUROPE VOL. 4 • NO. 3 NEWSLETTER OF THE EUROPEAN

Newsletter of theEUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYNewsletter of theEUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYCRIMINOLOGY IN EUROPE

NEWSLETTER OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYVOL. 4 • NO. 3 NOVEMBER 2005

ISSN 1729-8164

Continued on page 11

Continued on page 9

Am I the only person to geta buzz out of landing in astrange city where you spot afriend on every street corner?English, fluent and piping, orhalting and accented, cutsacross the sibilant sounds ofPolish, grabbing my attention. Iturn towards the voice and ninetimes out of ten it hails fromsomeone I recognise. Such isthe joy of conference going.

Copper bright skies, cobbled streets, gypsy music, andpavement cafés all contributed towards making Krakow acharming venue for the European Society of Criminology’sfifth annual conference and its first foray into EasternEurope.

It was hard not to get distracted on the way to register.How can one rush across Krakow’s vast Market Square,where children chase pigeons, priests in cassocks stroll,

Krakow: the ESC Looks EastBy Sara Harrop

horses and carts clatter, andcolourful cafés splash acrossthe cobbles, tempting you tolinger over a sun-downer?Reluctantly, I headed ontowards the Planty and up thesteps of Collegium Novum,the splendid mainadministrative building ofJagiellonian, Poland’s oldestuniversity. Inside was abuzzwith multi-lingual

conversation as people milled round the registration desk,ferreting through their newly acquired blue conferencebags in search of maps and programmes, or catching upwith friends last seen in Amsterdam, Mexico City, orNashville. It felt like a high school reunion.

I heard my name called and spun round to see LauraRastovac, last encountered a year ago on the dance floor

The fifth annual conference took place for the first timein central Europe and in a new member state of theEuropean Union – in Krakow, Poland from 31st August to 3rd

September. It was hosted by Jagiellonian University’sDepartment of Criminology and the Polish CriminologicalAssociation. The programme committee consisted ofJanina Blachut, Andrzej Gaberle, and. Krzysztof Krajewski,from Jagiellonian University, Beata Gruszczynska fromWarsaw University, and Anna Kossowska and IrenaRzeplinska from the Polish Academy of Sciences inWarsaw.

The conference organiser was Krzysztof Krajewski fromthe Department of Criminology, Jagiellonian University. Heis also current president of the Polish CriminologicalAssociation. Organisational issues were handled by aconference secretariat.

For the entire preparatory period and the duration of theconference this was headed most efficiently by Ms AnnaJurczak, who was later joined by Ms Alicja Papierz.

Another SuccessfulESC Conference

By Krzysztof Krajewski

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Criminology in Germany ................................... page 3Imprisonment in Central and Eastern Europe ... page 3Who attends ESC Meetings? ........................... page 4Images of Krakow ....................................... pages 5-6

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Kauko Aromaa:President-Elect


The ESC has gone toits northernmost reachesin choosing its nextpresident-elect. At theGeneral Assembly inKrakow, Kauko Aromaa,director of the EuropeanInstitute for CrimePrevention and Control,Affiliated with the UnitedNations (HEUNI), hasbeen elected to follow

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYPAGE 2 NOVEMBER 2005

VOL. 4, NO. 3NOVEMBER 2005

Criminology in Europe ispublished by the EuropeanSociety of Criminology.The editorial office is located atThe Institute of CriminologySidgwick AvenueCambridge CB3 9DTUKTel: 44 (0)1223 335369Fax: 44 (0)1223 335356Email: [email protected]

President—Hans-Jürgen KernerPresident-Elect—Kauko AromaaExecutive Secretary—Marcelo AebiJournal Editor—David J. SmithNewsletter Editor—Michael TonryMember—Uberto GattiMember—Gorazd Mesko

Communications should beaddressed as follows:

To the president:Hans-Jürgen KernerUniversity of TübingenDepartment of CriminologyAuf dem Sand 7D-72076 TübingenGERMANYTel: 49 7071 7 28 09Fax: 49 7071 7 28 79Email: [email protected]

To the business office:Marcelo AebiAndalusian Institute of CriminologyUniversity of SevillaE.T.S.I.I. - Avda Reina Mercedes s/n41012 Sevilla, SPAINTel./Fax: 34 954 094173Email: [email protected]

Concerning the 2006 meeting:Hans-Jürgen KernerUniversity of TübingenDepartment of CriminologyAuf dem Sand 7D-72076 TübingenGERMANYTel: 49 7071 7 28 09Fax: 49 7071 7 28 79Email: [email protected]

Hans-Jürgen Kerner:New President

By Sara Harrop


Hans-Jürgen Kerner, director of theInstitute of Criminology at theUniversity of Tübingen, has becomefifth president of the EuropeanSociety of Criminology. At the end ofthis year’s successful annual meetingin Krakow, Sonja Snacken, who hasfilled the role so admirably for the lastyear, handedover the gavelto the Germancriminologistwhose friendlyface,authoritativestance, and wildwhite hair (tosay nothing ofhis work!) arealready well-known andrespected bymost membersof the society.

With its firstGerman leader,the ESCcontinues tofulfil its aim ofrotating thepresidency around Europe’s diversecountries. Hans-Jürgen follows MartinKillias (Switzerland), Josine Junger-Tas (the Netherlands), Paul Wiles(U.K), Ernesto Savona (Italy), andSonja Snacken (Belgium).

In addition to directing Tübingen’sInstitute of Criminology, Hans-Jürgenhas held a full professorship incriminology, juvenile penal law,corrections, and criminal procedure atthe Faculty of Law since 1986. He hasalso been associate professor atBielefeld Univesity, professor atHamburg, and director of the Instituteof Criminology at Heidelberg. While inHamburg, he was a judge in thecriminal division of the High Court ofAppeals.

His presidential experience isalready quite extensive. He waspresident of the Scientific Commissionof the International Society ofCriminology for five years, then

president of that society for fiveyears, and remains president of theGerman Foundation for CrimePrevention.

Hans-Jürgen began work atTübingen after completing his lawdegree. He wrote a dissertation onmethodological and substantive

issues inanalysing andinterpretingcrimestatistics andbecame amember of aCouncil ofEuroperesearch groupon organisedcrime. Afterearning hisdoctorate in1973 hebecameincreasinglyinterested injuveniledelinquency,prisonsystems,

efficiency and effectiveness ofsanctions and measures, determinantsof recidivism, dynamics of criminalcareers, crime indexing systems, andthe fear of crime. In recent years, hisinterests have focused on long-termeffects and correlates of criminalcareers with a special emphasis ondesistance.

‘Desistance is not simply theopposite of recidivism,’ he says. ‘It’s areordering of life, reassessing yourmental map, values, and priorities. Allthat is rather exciting right now andthat’s one of the reasons I decided tomake the main theme of next year’sconference in Tübingen“Understanding Crime: Structural andDevelopmental Dimensions and theirImplications for Policy.”’

Hans-Jürgen is in favour of asystem where one’s presidentialduties stretch over three years – a

Hans-Jürgen Kerner

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY NOVEMBER 2005 PAGE 3


ImprisonmentPatterns in Centraland Eastern Europe

by Miklós Lévay

The ESC is soliciting applications to host annualmeetings from 2008 onwards. Applications shouldidentify the proposed organising committee and leader,describe the physical facilities that will be available (andhow many attendees can be accommodated), set out aproposed budget, describe local funding sources likelyto be available to underwrite conference costs, andexplain why, in light of the recent distribution of annualmeeting sites, the site proposed is an appropriate one.

Enquiries and applications should be sent to ProfessorMarcelo Aebi , Executive Secretary, Andalusian Instituteof Criminology, University of Sevilla, E.T.S.I.I. - AvdaReina Mercedes s/n, 41012 Sevilla, SPAIN, Email:[email protected]

SOLICITATION OF ESCANNUAL MEETING SITES

In the criminology literature on the effects of regimechanges in the former socialist countries of Central andEastern Europe between 1988-1990, the majority of papersexamine increases and structural changes in crime. Lessattention has been paid to crime control developments.This article reviews trends in instruments of crime control,focusing on imprisonment in Central and Eastern Europeancountries that became members of the European Union onMay 1, 2004.

Imprisonment Rates and Trends in the EU andFormer Socialist Countries

Table 1 on page 13 shows one of the features of formersocialist countries, the high prison population.

The imprisonment rate in former socialist countries isalmost twice as high as the average rate of the fifteencountries that were EU member states before the expansionin 2004. This rate is slightly lower in Central Europeancountries, but is nonetheless significantly higher than theaverage for the fifteen old EU member states, all located inWestern Europe. Based upon the figures, one has to agreewith Krysztof Krajewski, when he speaks about a ’penalgap’ in the differences in imprisonment rates in the Westand East (Krajewski 2004, page 23).

Given that the number of offences per 100,000 inhabitantsis lower in former socialist countries, characteristicallybetween 3000 and 4500, than in Western European countries,it is hardly an exaggeration to claim that there is a gapbetween the crime control cultures of the two regions.

A more nuanced conclusion can be drawn, however,upon examination of prison population trends, taking intoconsideration sentencing practices and determinants.

Table 2 (also on page 13) shows imprisonment rates infive countries in Central and Eastern Europe from 1988 to2005. There are some interesting developments.

In the first years of the change of regime, prisonpopulations declined significantly in Poland and Hungary.However, prison populations increased markedly shortly

In August 2006, the sixth annual conference of the ESCwill take place in Tübingen, Germany. People thinking ofattending may be interested in knowing a bit aboutcriminology in Germany. This article provides an overview.The organisation of teaching and research are covered asare publications and electronic resources.

TeachingCriminology is part and parcel of many university

programmes in Germany. However, there are very fewprogrammes that lead to a university degree in criminology.Most criminology students are instead registered incourses in law, sociology, psychology, education, socialwork, police science, or a similar subject.

Hamburg University offers a master’s degree programmein International Criminology, which can be completedwithin two years. The attainment of a PhD in Criminology isalso possible. This new programme’s first students willenroll in autumn 2006. The programme will be organisedaround the thematic areas of policing and internationalcriminal and security policy. It borrows from theperspectives of critical criminology and elucidates theproblem areas, findings, and topics under debate in thisspecialism. Close attention will be paid to sociopoliticalquestions and to international discussions. Although mostcourses will be taught in German, at least one course eachsemester will be taught in English.

Since 2005, Bochum University Faculty of Law has beenoffering a one-year M.A. in Criminology and Police


CriminologicalProgrammes and

Research in GermanyBy Axel Dessecker

The ESC will hold its first postal ballot in Spring 2006 toelect officers: a president for a 3-year term (president-elect, president, past president) and two at-large boardmembers for 2-year terms. All ESC members are eligible.Further information can be obtained from Marcelo Aebi(see contact information on page 2).

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS


The General Assembly of the European Society ofCriminology convened on September 2, 2005, during theESC’s fifth annual meeting in Krakow, Poland. High pointsincluded the elections by paper balloting of Kauko Aromaaas president-elect, Uberto Gatti and Gorazd Mesko as at-large board members for one-year terms, and MichaelTonry as newsletter editor, also for a one-year term, and theapproval of a series of amendments to the ESCconstitution. Reports were also received concerning theESC’s finances, and activities of the ESC board, theEuropean Journal of Criminology, and Criminology inEurope.

President’s ReportSonja Snacken, 2004-2005 president, reported that the

board met five times after the Amsterdam GeneralAssembly, including meetings the last day of theAmsterdam conference and the first day of the Krakowconference.

Sonja reported that Marcelo Aebi had completed hisfirst year as the ESC’s executive secretary. Marcelo hadupdated and professionalized the ESC’s databases,website, and archives. At its pre-conference meeting inKrakow, the board thanked him for his outstanding workand reconfirmed his appointment.

Beginning in 2005, members were asked to renew theirmemberships at the beginning of the calendar year. This isnecessary because the ESC must pay Sage, publisher ofthe European Journal of Criminology, a small fee for eachissue of the journal sent to a member. The ESC had 470paid-up members at the time of the Krakow conference andhalf (235) attended. Total paid attendance was 473persons.

Both the European Journal of Criminology andCriminology in Europe are achieving the goals that havebeen set for them and appear to be widely read and well-received. The distribution problems that previouslyaffected the journal have been solved. The presidentthanked David Smith and his assistant editor GeorgiosPapanicolau for their work on the journal and MichaelTonry and his assistant editor Sara Harrop for theirs on thenewsletter.

Financial ReportBruno Aubuson de Cavarlay presented the financial

report that was sent to all members before the meeting. Thebook-keeping system is in good order and all expendituresare accounted for. The ESC had a small deficit last year.

Budget Marcelo Aebi presented an estimated budget for 2005.

PROCEEDINGS OF ESC GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The ESC should have a slight surplus of approximately1,000 Euros. The same budget should be workable for 2006.The ESC’s expenses have stabilised (approximately thesame amount of money is spent each year). However asmall decrease in the numbers of ESC members or annualmeeting participants would reduce income and transformthe surplus into a deficit.

Sonja indicated that the ESC will review the existingfinancial arrangements with conference organizers to lookfor ways to increase the ESC’s income. The board will try tohold two meetings between conferences instead of three tosave money.

Membership feesThe General Assembly approved the Board’s proposal

that membership fees for 2006 be increased to 75 Euros forfull members and 40 Euros for student members.

ElectionsKauko Aromaa and Anthony Bottoms were candidates

for president-elect. Kauko Aromaa was elected.The candidates for one-year terms as at-large board

members were Alan Block, Uberto Gatti, Analida Ivankovic,Gorazd Meško, and Per-Olof Wikström. Uberto Gatti andGorazd Meško were elected.

Michael Tonry was reelected as newsletter editor.

Constitutional AmendmentsAmendments proposed by the board to Section 4 of the

ESC Constitution, which were published in the July 2005newsletter, were approved with only one modification. Therevised language as approved appears on page 18. Theprincipal changes require postal ballots for ESC elections,reducing the board’s voting membership to five,establishing two-year terms for two at-large members,specifying that presidents remain on the board for one yearafter their presidency, and converting the newslettereditor’s position to an appointed one.

Other BusinessThe president Sonja Snacken reported on various

matters raised or proposed by members. The board hasbegun exploring establishment of “standards ofindependence” for researchers. Discussions will continuein the coming year. The board decided not to seek NGOstatus for the ESC with the United Nations because itwould be difficult to establish common positions to bepursued on behalf of ESC members. Observer status in theCouncil of Europe is unnecessary as many ESC membersattend the Council’s meetings. The Board will work toestablish one or more annual ESC awards.

President-Elect and Board Members Elected, ConstitutionalChanges Approved


Who Attends theAnnual ESCMeetings?By Sebastian C. Proband

Why Did Some of UsNot Attend the 2005ESC Conference?

By André Kuhn

The European Society of Criminology was establishedto provide a forum for criminologists in Europe and tofacilitate development of a professional and intellectualcriminology community in Europe.

Reports on each of the annual meetings have indicatedhow many attendees came from which countries. In thisarticle we summarise what those data show.

The ESC’s major aims are well on their way to beingrealised. Attendees have come from 25 countries in Europe.Criminology in Europe should not, however be insulated

from developments elsewhere. A sign that this is nothappening is that attendees have also come from 18 other


As some participants to the 2005 ESC conferencenoticed, several European criminologists were missing.

There was a very simple reason to this absence: Theinvasion of Iraq.

Some years ago, a lot of people did not eat fruit fromSouth Africa because of the policy of Apartheid. Today,some of us refuse to spend money in countries involved inwar. As a matter of fact, each penny spent in such acountry contributes to warfare. As Poland is involved inthe Iraqi war, some of us therefore decided not to attendthe Krakow meeting in order to avoid providing support forthe war.

Part of criminology is dedicated to the quest for peace ina society where crime remains under control, and wherefear of crime stays low. Our point of view is that the samegoal has to be reached more generally in our world: apeaceful world where war has no place.

But as well in criminology as – more generally spoken –in the whole society, absence of social diseases such ascrime or war does not mean “peace”.

As a matter of fact, a “cold war” is a war withouthostilities. However, peace is not a negative ideal, it is thepresence rather than the absence of something.

As Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his Letterfrom Birmingham Jail: “True peace is not merely theabsence of tension: it is the presence of justice”. Thus, thedynamics of peace are the same whether between twoindividuals, two groups of people, two states, or twonations. The first law of peacemaking is to regard others asfriends!

We do not believe in theses such as “peace throughwar” or “peace through balance of terror.” No war has everserved the cause of peace.

Peace can be obtained only through peaceful means,whereas violence will always, and only, breed violence.Peace is as hard to construct as war is an easy way todestruct. As Albert Einstein said: “The world we havemade, as a result of the level of thinking we have done thusfar, creates problems we cannot solve at the same level ofthinking at which we created them.”

Avoiding any contribution to the financial needs of thecurrent war against Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, andterrorism is only a little step towards that construction ofpeace. But some of us consider it a first and useful step….

Andre Kuhn is Professor of Law at the School of Law,University of Lausanne.

TABLE 1Countries Representated at ESC Meetings

EuropeAlbaniaAustriaBelarusBelgiumBosniaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandItalyLatviaLithuaniaNetherlandsNorwayPolandPortugalRussiaSloveniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraineUnited Kingdom

Outside EuropeAustraliaBrazilCanadaEgyptEthiopiaGambiaGeorgiaIranIsraelJapanMexicoNigeriaSaudi ArabiaSouth AfricaTaiwanTurkeyU.S.A.Venezuela


EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY

Conference 2005 Krakow, August 31 - September 3


EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY

Conference 2005 Krakow, August 31 - September 3



Another Successful ESC Conference Continued from page 1

Logistics such as hotel reservations,the social programme, and theregistration desk were run veryprofessionally and efficiently byJagiellonian University’s Centre forAcademic Events and Conferences.Finally law students at Jagielloniandid a magnificent job and helpedenormously with preparationsimmediately preceding the conferenceand arrangements throughout it. Allconference events took place inJagiellonian University buildings:Collegium Novum, the mainuniversity building, and LarischPalace, site of the Faculty of Law anduniversity administration.

Krakow was the third largest ESCconference. It attracted 473participants (Toledo and Amsterdamboth attracted over 500). As with allprevious ESC conferences, the mostrepresented country was the UnitedKingdom (111 participants). This wasfollowed by the Netherlands (39participants), Germany (35), Poland(33), Italy (32), the United States(27), and Belgium (24). Finland andSweden were each represented by 14participants, Norway and Switzerlandby 13. The Czech Republic, Franceand Spain were represented by 8participants, Hungary and Russia by7, Denmark and Greece by 6, Austria,Ireland, Lithuania, and Slovenia by 5,and Portugal by 4. Bulgaria andEstonia each had 2 representatives,and Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina,Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Latvia,Luxemburg, Slovakia, and Ukraineeach sent one.

The Krakow conference attractedmore participants from non-Europeancountries than have previousconferences. Besides the Americans,11 came from Australia, 6 each fromCanada and Japan, 2 each from Israeland New Zealand, and 1 each fromBrazil, Egypt, and Turkey.

Seven European countries were notrepresented in Krakow: Armenia,Belarus, Iceland, Macedonia, Malta,Serbia and Montenegro, and Romania.It is regrettable that five of thembelong either to Eastern Europe or theBalkan region.

However, attendance byparticipants from Central and Eastern

parts of the continent, and especiallyfrom the new EU member states, wasmuch higher than for precedingconferences. Altogether there were 76participants from Central, Eastern, andSoutheastern Europe, 16.1% of thetotal. New EU member states(including Cyprus) were representedby 63 participants, 13.3% of the total.From Western Europe there were 241participants (50.9%), from SouthernEurope 51 (10.8%), and from Northern

Europe or Scandinavian countries 47(9.9%). From non-European countriesthere were 57 participants (12.1%).

The main theme of the Krakowconference was Challenges ofEuropean integration. Challenges forCriminology. Under this bannerpapers were presented on a broadspectrum of criminological issues. Likeother ESC conferences, Krakowconsisted of three types of session:plenaries with invited speakers, peer-reviewed panel sessions ofmonographic character (i.e., panelsessions with a specific subject andall presenters and presentationsproposed in advance), and panelsessions of a more general character(i.e., thematic sessions put togetherby the programme committee from thepool of abstracts submitted). Therewas also a small poster session.

Three plenary sessions wereorganised, and they proved to be of

Krzysztof Krajewski

particularly good quality this year.The first was devoted to the topic ofContemporary CriminologicalTheory and Penal Reality. It includedpresentation by Christian Pfeiffer(Hanover, Germany), Sonja Snacken(Brussels, Belgium) and MichaelTonry (University of Minnesota, USAand Leiden, the Netherlands). Thesecond plenary focussed on Issues ofSocial Cohesion and SocialExclusion in ContemporaryCriminology. Presenters were MiklosLevay (Budapest, Hungary) andDietrich Oberwittler (Cambridge,U.K.). The final plenary was devotedto Criminal Justice Reform inCentral and Eastern Europe.Presenters were Andrzej Siemaszko(Warsaw, Poland), Louise Shelley(Washington D.C., USA), and HelenaValkova (Plzen, Czech Republic).

Otherwise the conferenceprogramme consisted of 105 panelsessions made up of 350 papers(each panel session lasted 1 hour, 15minutes and consisted of 3-4presentations). Of these, 28 werepeer-reviewed or were monographicsessions. All others were arrangedby the programme committee fromabstracts submitted. Sessionscovered all areas of criminologicaltheory and empirical research, as well

as many practical issues on thefunctioning of criminal justice systemsand their reform.

The programme included severalimportant social events, beginningwith a welcoming reception inCollegium Novum on the evening ofAugust 31st. This was hosted by thePolish Minister of Justice and hisDeputy, Mr Jerzy Zuralski, whodelivered a welcome address to theparticipants.

On the second eveningparticipants took part in an open airreception in the gothic courtyard ofCollegium Maius, Jagiellonian’s oldestbuilding, dating back to 1400. Itoffered a unique atmospherereinforced by magnificent weather. Onthe third evening, the Mayor ofKraków, Mr Jacek Majchrowski,invited all participants to attend aspecial reception in the Lea andKupiecka Halls at the Town Hall.


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Krakow: the ESC Looks East Continued from page 1

of a steamy nightclub near AmsterdamCentral Station. Laura was one of thestudent helpers at the ESC’s Dutch-based 2004 outing. She explained howshe and other enterprising classmatesfrom Rotterdam had visited Krakow ona study tour in the spring, met theirPolish counterparts, and suggestedways they might advise them on howto help make a major conference runsmoothly. In exchange, Jagiellonian’slaw and criminology students wereoffering an insider’s guide to the nightspots of Krakow. What an excellentmodel of East-West cooperation!

Initial plans for Krakow to host aconference were laid, back in 2002, atan ESC board meeting in Toledo.Encouraging criminologists from allparts of Europe to join the society andattend its annual meetings has alwaysranked high in the ESC’s aims. EastEuropeans were somewhat under-represented at the Toledo conference.Wouldn’t it be exciting to hold afuture event in one of the, soon-to-be-recruited to the EU, former communiststates! Krzysztof Krajewski ofJagiellonian’s department of law wasone of the few Polish presences inthose early days of the society and hewas quick to offer his beautiful andhistoric hometown as a prospectivevenue.

It was therefore with pleasure,pride, and no small frisson ofexcitement that, on a perfect summer’sevening three years later, Krzysztof,accompanied by Andrzej Kalwas,Minister of Justice of the Republic ofPoland, took to the podium beneaththe graceful arches of CollegiumNovum, to welcome 460 colleagues tohis city and declare the conferenceofficially open. Many gathered therewould have appreciated the enormoussignificance of Poland’s hosting aninternational conference on criminaljustice issues. Sixteen years ago, withbarely a dent showing in the BerlinWall, this would have been but animpossible dream. How appropriatethat this dream should be realised onthe 25th anniversary of Solidarity, thefree trade union movement whichprovided the initial spark that ignitedthe momentous changes that swept

across eastern and central Europe atthe end of the 1980s.

During the three years between hisspontaneous offer in Toledo and theconvergence of nearly 500criminologists on Krakow, Krzysztofmust have had many occasions towonder what on earth he’d let himselfin for. As delegates enjoyed a glass ofwine and a gossip with old friends atthat first night reception, he still borethe burden of many mental checklistsand ‘what have I forgotten?’ feelings.This was his first experience oforganising such a large-scale eventand he visibly relaxed as the daysunfolded and his months of carefulplanning reaped their reward.

Fortunately, Krzysztof had manyhelping hands. The ProgrammeCommittee and Scientific Boardcomprised most of JagiellonianUniversity’s department ofcriminology and the board of thePolish Criminological Association, ofwhich he is currently president.Generating a logical, thematic panelprogramme from the hundreds ofhopeful abstracts fell to them. Thirtypercent of panels were peer reviewedand relatively unproblematic. Planningthe remaining 70 percent was alogistical nightmare.

The perennial problem ofprospective participants submittingabstracts then failing to register ontime reached new heights in the run-up to Krakow. On 1 August, over aquarter of abstracts submitted werenot matched by a corresponding paid-up participant. Anyone who hasorganised a conference will know thatthis can spell disaster for theircarefully choreographed sessions ifpresenters cancel at the last minute orsimply fail to show up, leavingyawning gaps in the programme,confused co-presenters, anddisappointed audiences. Fortunately,most authors of the unrepresentedabstracts registered during August,but this still necessitated plenty oflast minute juggling on the programmecommittee’s part.

Krzysztof is particularly grateful tohis indispensable conferencesecretary, Anna Jurczak. Fluent in four

European languages and reasonablycompetent in several more, Anna, asociology graduate from Jagiellonian,was hired in November 2004 as theperfect person to cope with the pre-conference deluge of correspondence,emails, and phone calls. In June, whenthe deluge became a flood, lawstudent Alicja Papierz was recruited tohelp out.

‘Without Anna and Alicja’sextraordinary multi-tasking ability, theconference would not have beenpossible,’ Krzysztof insists.

He is also full of praise for the staffof Jagiellonian University’s Office forAcademic Events, who, withefficiency and aplomb, manned theregistration desk and organised all thehotel bookings and excursions. Themany late registrations hadrepercussions on the hotel bookings.The conference office was able toguarantee hotel rooms only until theend of July. After that, participantswere left alone to compete with thethousands of tourists who flock toKrakow each summer. Luckily, this didnot appear to influence participation,and, as far as I know, there were noreports of delegates sleeping onbenches in the Planty!

A glance through the programmereveals that far more East Europeanswere present than at previous ESCconferences, though fewer thanKrzysztof and colleagues had hoped.Krzysztof offers several explanations:

‘The first is financial. Krakow maybe cheap relative to most westernEuropean cities, but for people fromreal eastern countries, like Bulgaria,Russia, and Ukraine, it’s still quiteexpensive. Another reason is thatcriminology is not well developed inmany East European countries; it maybe part of the communist inheritance,but many people who are involved incriminal law and who would, in othercountries, be consideredcriminologists, do not viewthemselves as such.’

Likewise, there were fewer studentparticipants than Krzysztof and otherboard members might have hoped.Whereas the Amsterdam conference

Continued on next page


attracted a feast of enthusiasticyouthful criminologists, aside from theten volunteer helpers fromJagiellonian’s law faculty, local studentswere conspicuously absent. Krzysztofattributes this also to financial reasons,and to a scarcity of Polish studentsinterested in criminal law.

‘The profile of Polish legal studiesin recent years is almost exclusivelycivil, business, andfinancial law, though thismay be forced to changein the near future as thelabour market becomessaturated with this type oflawyer. There’s more crimenow, of course, leadinginevitably to moreemployment opportunitiesin criminal justice.’

The local students whodid attend were predictablyenthusiastic about thepotentials afforded to meetforeign academics andpractitioners. Their onlyregrets were that theirorganisational dutiesprevented them attending as manysessions as they would have liked.They look forward to participating infuture conferences and urge the boardto consider Ukraine as an interestingand affordable venue.

Magical KrakowKrzysztof and colleagues’ tasks

were facilitated by Krakow providingsuch a superb backdrop. Almost allparticipants were staying withinwalking distance of the meeting sites

and each other, and the weather godssmiled. Beautiful old buildings helpedtoo. Larisch Palace, where thesessions were held, provided a cooland classy refuge from the mid-dayheat. Presenters and their audiencescould continue discussion over lunchin one of the many atmosphericrestaurants nearby – that’s if they hadbeen able to resist the calorie-fest of

cakes provided at coffee breaks.On the Thursday evening, the

courtyard of Collegium Maius,Jagiellonian’s showpiece oldestbuilding, provided a magical settingfor a reception. Delegates enjoyed aperfect excuse to dress up in theirfinest and slip through the gatewayinto an older, more genteel world.

More finery was required on Fridayevening, when Jacek Majchrowski, themayor of Krakow hosted a receptionat the magnificent Town Hall. Crowds

Cafe outside the Cloth Hall

Krakow: the ESC Looks East Continued from previous page

of criminologists endeavoured to lookelegant as they swarmed around along table which groaned under theweight of an impressive array of food.Listening to colleagues expound onprison conditions in Eastern Europe ortheir latest research on socialexclusion in Iceland, while balancing aglass of wine on the edge of yourplate and trying to spear asparagus

tips by a means that won’tdislodge either wine or astuffed vol-au-vent, is anart form that many wouldlove to perfect!

Daytime excursions wereoffered to the incrediblesaline cathedrals ofWieliczka Salt Mine, theJewish district of Kazimierz,and Wawel Castle, as wellas a highly praised guidedtour of Krakow’s old town.With so many appealingdistractions on offer, it is awonder that the panelsessions attracted theaudiences they deserved.However, there too, the

burden of choice weighed heavily onmany participants. People pored overprogrammes, deciding whether toattend presentations on wrongfulimprisonment, organised crime, orcyber-terrorism. Perhaps they shouldjust adjourn to Market Square for abeer to think it over.

Not since Toledo in 2002 has anESC meeting achieved such a relaxedand pleasant ambience. Hans-JürgenKerner and his colleagues inTübingen have a hard act to follow.

Kauko Aromaa Continued from page 1

Hans-Jürgen Kerner. He will sit on theboard as president-elect this year andtake over as president at the 2006annual meeting in Tübingen. Kaukowill be familiar to many as organiser ofthe 2003 conference in Helsinki.

His main research interests are incrime trends and statistics, violentcrime, victimisation surveys,organised crime, criminal policy, crimeprevention, and the illegal trafficking

of human beings.Before becoming director of

HEUNI, Kauko was research directorof the National Research Institute ofLegal Policy in Helsinki.

Previous presidential experienceincludes a stint at the helm of theScandinavian Research Council forCriminology. He is or has been amember of many other Europeancriminological organisations including

an expert group of the European CrimePrevention Network, the EuropeanSourcebook of Crime and CriminalJustice Statistics, and a Council ofEurope expert group on Criminal Lawand Criminological Aspects ofOrganised Crime.

His wealth of experience gainedthrough all this should prove a hugeasset to the European Society ofCriminology.


TABLE 1Average of the Prison Population Rates (PPR) in theEuropean Union by group of countries, 2003-2005

Average PPR(per 100,000 population)

EU 25 134

EU 15 (old members) 110

EU 10 (new members) 182

8 former socialist countries 212

EU 5 (Central and Eastern Europeanformer socialist countries) 157

Source: International Centre for Prison Studies,September 2005 (http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/rel/icps)

Imprisonment Patterns Continued from page 3

TABLE 2Recent Prison Population Trends in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia

Year POLAND CZECH REPUBLIC SLOVAKIA HUNGARY SLOVENIATotal Rate Total Rate Total Rate Total Rate Total Rate

1988 n.a. 212 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 19,366 193 n.a. n.a.1992 58,619 153 12,730 123 6,311 119 14,810 143 836 421995 62,719 163 18,753 181 7,412 138 12,703 124 825 411998 57,382 148 21,560 209 7,409 138 13,405 132 756 382001 70,544 183 21,538 210 6,941 129 15,539 152 1,148 582004 80,093 210 17,277 169 8,891 165 16,543 164 n.a. n.a.2005 82,262 216 19,133 187 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 1,129 56

Source: International Centre for Prison Studies, September 2005

afterwards, except in Hungary andSlovenia. The prison population,except in Poland, was significantlylower in 2004 than in the last years ofsocialism, but higher than in the firstyears after the change of regime. InPoland, the rate of prison populationper 100,000 inhabitants is higher thanin 1988.

Why did the Prison PopulationFall and then Rise Again?

The first factor is interactionsbetween crime and punishment.

As table 3 on page 14 shows, in thefirst years after the changes of regime,crime rates increased in all countries

except Slovenia.There wereespecially largeincreases inHungary, TheCzech Republic,and Slovakia.However, theprison populationfell during thisperiod in thesecountries.

From the mid-1990s, crime had adifferentdevelopment inthese Central andEastern Europeancountries. The rateof registered crimesrose and then fell inthe Czech Republic,

and this was fundamentally thetendency manifested by the prisonpopulation rate. In Hungary, crimeshowed increases until 1998, and hasbeen in decline since. The number ofregistered crimes per 100,000population in 2004 was 4,140.5compared to the 5,926 of 1998. InPoland, the crime rate steadilyincreased after 1996, and in parallelwith the rising number of inmates. InSlovakia, the crime rate is lower thanin the mid 1990s; the prisonpopulation however, which declineduntil 2001, has since significantlyincreased. In Slovenia, crime has beenincreasing since 1996 together with a

not-quite-so substantial rise in theimprisonment rate. These data showthat the changes in prison populationcannot be explained in any simple wayby comparison with changes in crime.Furthermore, we can agree withMichael Tonry that ’crime andpunishment are independentphenomena’ (Tonry 2005, p.8).

Trends in punishment, includingimprisonment, are much more theresults of social situations, partypolitics, and criminal policy. In the firstyears after the changes of regime, thesignificant increase in crimecoincident with the decline in theimprisonment rate results from theunique social situation in which thechanges took place. This wasdescribed by Károly Bárd: ’At the timeof the change of regime, and to someextent afterwards, the newdemocracies regarded as Europeaneverything that was different from thestandards of the country in the pastdecades, as a negation. When themotto of catching up to Europe washeard everywhere, European criminallaw and criminal policy were used inthis sense of mere negation as well.Although it was not indicatedprecisely what ’European’ means,there was a consensus that it containsin itself the limitation of the spread ofcriminal law and the easing of itsirrational severity’ (Bárd 200, p. 5).

The key explanation for the declineis therefore the effort to democratise

Continued on next page


and adjust to the patterns of theWestern models of criminal justice.This is demonstrated very well by thechanges in Hungarian sentencingpractices.

Table 4 shows the declining use ofimmediate imprisonment in Hungary incomparison with the period before1990. In the last years of socialism,roughly one fourth of all adultoffenders were sentenced toimmediate imprisonment. Thisdropped to 12 percent by the mid-1990s. As in many Western Europeancountries, fines became the mostfrequently used punishment.

The subsequent increase in theprison population can also beinterpreted as a result of Westerninfluence in Hungary and the othercountries. The reaction to crimebecame an issue of party politicsinstead of one of policy. The ‘law andorder’ approach embraced by certaincountries of Western Europe hasbecome a model to follow. Thesecountries experienced thedevelopment of criminal policies asdescribed by David Garland, thatprivileged ’public opinion over theviews of criminal justice experts andprofessional elites’ (Garland 2001, p.350). Developments in Hungary areillustrative. The first general electionsthat featured public security and thefight against crime in the campaignwere in 1998. These politicalprogrammes were published in theleading journal of Hungariancriminology (Belügyi Szemle). Thetoughest voice was that of theconservative party that was elected,

the Alliance of Young Democrats-Hungarian Civic Party (Hungarianabbreviation: FIDESZ-MPP). Itaccused the government of beingunable to slow down the worsening ofpublic security, and promised arelentless fight against crime (BelügyiSzemle 1998, 4, p. 37). The electionpromises included increases instatutory penalties and a morevigorous fight against drugs.

As the winner of the elections andthe senior party in a centre-rightcoalition, FIDESZ-MPP moved toimplement its public securityprogramme. The Penal Code wassignificantly amended. Article 83,containing sentencing principles, wasamended to produce harshersentencing practices. As aconsequence, immediate imprisonmentand prison population increased, andprisons became overcrowded. Therewas a period in 2001, when the numberof inmates was 17,275. Theimprisonment rate reached 170.

Since then the situation haschanged somewhat, as theconservative party lost the nextgeneral elections in 2002 to socialdemocratic liberal parties. One of thenew government’s first measures wasto amend the Penal Code once again.The former, harsher principles ofsentencing have been removed, and amore moderate and rational criminalpolicy is envisioned. The newprovisions have been in force sinceMarch 1, 2003. The effects of theseprovisions are therefore mostlyunknown as of yet, although the rapidincrease in imprisonment has indeed

come to a halt.

ConclusionsThree characteristics in relation to

prison population should beemphasised concerning the formerlysocialist EU member states in Centraland Eastern Europe,. One is that thepresent imprisonment rate is higherthan that of the fifteen longer-term EUmember states, with the exception ofSlovenia. Another is that sentencingpractices have changed significantlyin comparison with the socialistperiod; the rate of immediateimprisonment has fallen, whereas thatof the fine has risen. The third is thatthe initial decline in prion populationafter the change of regime has mostlybeen replaced by growth. The cause isnot the development of crime, but theunique social-psychologicalcircumstances of the regime changeand the evolution of crime controlpolicy.

The difference between the fifteen‘old’ and five new member statesindicates that there remains a ‘penalgap’ between East and West. This isdue partly to the socialist tradition ofthe frequent use of the immediateimprisonment sentence, but also to theinfluence of certain Western efforts.

A conclusion can be drawn that thedifference is not necessarily betweenthe crime control cultures of East andWest, but between the states orgovernments that follow a rationalcrime control policy and the states orgovernments that follow an irrational,populist one. Most former socialistcountries belong to the latter group.

TABLE 3Rates of Registered Crimes per 100,000 Population in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia

1986-89 1990 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

Czech Republic 1,200 2,100 3,400 3,700 n.a. 3,822 3,913 4,129 4,142 3,811 3,481 n.a.Hungary 1,843 3,287 4,326 3,790 4,900 4,563 5,056 5,926 5,011 4,487 4,565 4,235Poland 1,367 2,313 2,293 2,348 2,527 2,325 2,568 2,775 2,902 3,278 3,597 3,634Slovakia 879 n.a. n.a. 2,500 2,135 1,848 1,715 1,740 n.a. 1,615 1,692 n.a.Slovenia 1,911 1,900 u.a. 2,307 1,933 1,852 1,891 2,822 3,138 3,614 u.a. u.a.

Source: Kerezsi 2004, p. 109 and Siemaszko 2005

Imprisonment Patterns Continued from previous page


ReferencesBárd, Károly. 2003. ‘The Role of

European Convention on HumanRights in Shaping the “European”Criminal Law.’ (Hungarian) BüntetQjogi Kodifikáció 2:3-12.

Garland, David. 2001. The Cultureof Control. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.

International Centre for PrisonStudies. 2005. ‘Prison Population.’Available on line:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/rel/icps.Kerezsi, Klára. 2004. ‘Human Safety

in Central-Eastern Europe.’ InANNALES Universitatis ScientiarumBudapestinensis De Rolando EötvösNominatae, Sectio Iuridica, TomusXLV. Budapest: ELTE Állam-ésJogtudományi Kar.

Krajewski, Krzysztof. 2004.‘Transformation and Crime Control.Towards Exclusive Societies Centraland Eastern European Style?’ In NewTendencies in Crime, Changes inCriminal Policy in Central andEastern Europe, edited by KatalinGönczöl and Miklós Lévay. Miskolc:Bíbor Kiadó.

Table 4Sentencing Practice in Hungary – Adult Offenders

Year Convicts, Capital Imprison-, Suspended Intermediate Community Fine Othertotal punishment, total imprison- imprison- service

ment ment ment

No. % No. No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %

1985 54,851 100 2 26,477 48.3 11,780 21.5 14,697 26.8 2,684 4.9 21,079 38.4 4.608 8.4

1990 42,538 100 - 16,121 37.9 6,005 14.1 10,116 23.8 676 1.6 18,641 43.8 7,094 16.7

1995 77,029 100 - 22,969 29.8 13,682 17.76 9,287 12.05 869 1.1 38,442 49.9 14,75 19.1

2000 87,689 100 - 30,279 34.5 18,537 21.1 11,742 13.4 2,754 3.1 40,220 45.9 14,436 16.5

2003 86,722 100 - 29,744 34.2 18,449 21.1 11,295 13.02 3,794 4.3 39,110 45.9 14,074 16.2

Sources: Statistical Yearbooks of Hungary, Central Statistical Office, Budapest

Siemaszko, Andrzej. 2005. ‘Crimeand Criminal Policy in Post-Communist Countries: a Layman’sOverview.’ Paper presented at the 5th

Annual Conference of the ESC, August31-September 2, 2005. Manuscript.

Miklós Lévay is Professor ofCriminology and Criminal Law, headof the Department of Criminology atthe University of Eötvös Loránd(ELTE) Law School, Budapest, anddirector of the Institute of CriminalSciences at the University of MiskolcLaw School.

Starting on 20 October 2003. This is a full-time programme extending over 1 to 2 years, depending on the number ofcredits awarded for previously obtained degrees and practical experience.The programme includes classes and seminars in Criminology, Criminal Law, Research Methods and Statistics,Economic Crime, Anglo-Saxon Law, Organised Crime, Juvenile Delinquency, Forensic Science, Forensic Medicine,Forensic Psychology and Forensic Psychiatry. Students are expected to spend “stages” (short periods gainingpractical experience) in a police department and in a prison service. At the end of the programme, a master’sdissertation is to be defended.The School provides access to numerous international databases for dissertations and other student researchactivities, an introduction to research methods through individualised “on the job training,” and teaching byexperienced international staff. Teaching is mainly in French, with opportunities for students from other backgroundsto become familiar with the language.Students with a BA in criminology, criminal justice, psychology, social sciences, law, or any related field are eligible.

For general inquiries about the programme please contact: [email protected], [email protected].

Registration:Forms can be obtained on-line at [email protected], or from the following address: Rectorat de l’Université deLausanne, Service des Immatriculations, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.Forms must be returned by 31 August 2003 to [email protected] or to the Rectorat de l’Université de Lausanne, Servicedes Immatriculations, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

The University of Lausanne, School of Criminal SciencesMASTER’S PROGRAMME IN CRIMINOLOGY


Science. A two-year distance-learningprogramme will follow in 2006.

Greifswald University Faculty ofLaw is planning a one-year LL.M. inCriminology and Criminal Justice tostart in 2006.

All these programmes offer post-graduate students with a degree in lawor the social sciences, as well asqualifying police officers and socialworkers, the possibility for a morespecialised qualification incriminology and criminal justice.

Much criminology teaching hastraditionally occurred in lawdepartments and faculties. As legaleducation in German universities wasrecently reformed, the position ofcriminology has been subject to somechange. The reform stressedspecialisation during law studies andestablished a new universityexamination. As a recent surveyshows, criminology will remain anintegral part of the programmes ofmost German law faculties (Desseckerand Jehle 2003). Legal specificationson law studies vary among the Germanstates, but differences concern suchdetails as the form of examinations.Universities are free to offer courses onspecialised subjects going beyondundergraduate legal studies.

Thirty-eight of the 40 universitiesin Germany that offer law programmesoffer specialised courses on criminallaw or criminal justice. For most ofthem, criminology continues to be animportant subject in both specialisedlegal studies and university-levelexaminations. Most often, criminologyis combined with juvenile criminal law,prison studies, and related subjectssuch as legal counseling in criminalmatters or forensic psychiatry. Theconcept of these specialised areascontinues the German tradition ofgesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft,associated with Franz von Liszt, andlooks to the U.S. tradition of criminaljustice studies. Those universitiesthat do not cover criminology as aspecialised subject offer courses onpurely legal subjects such aseconomic criminal law or internationaland comparative criminal law.

For social science departments, thesituation is different. Although the

sociology of social problems,deviance, and social control figuresamong the more prominent issues inthe sociological tradition, criminologydoes not have a strong position inGerman sociology departments orsocial sciences. According to astatement published by one of the twoscientific societies of Germancriminology, the position ofcriminology as a discipline of socialscience has been deterioratingrecently and is in danger of worseningeven more (Gesellschaft fürinterdisziplinäre wissenschaftlicheKriminologie, 2002).

The professorships involved werefounded in the early 1970s when therewas a boom in the social sciences inthe West German system of highereducation. Most of these scholarsrepresent one of the variousorientations of critical criminology.Nowadays, the social sciences arebeing cut back or even closed down inmany universities.

ResearchCriminological research in Germany

is carried out by university institutes,by independent research institutions,and by some governmental agencies.The short overview which is possiblehere can by no means be exhaustive;that is why some URLs are added.

One important university instituteis located at the University ofTübingen (http://www.ifk.jura.uni-tuebingen.de/). The Tübingeninstitute has become famous for itsCriminal Behaviour DevelopmentStudy, a cohort study on criminalcareers launched in the 1960s. It wasalso involved in the International SelfReported Delinquency Survey. On itsweb site, the institute hosts a veryuseful collection of criminology andcriminal justice links both for Germanyand internationally (http://www.ifk.jura.uni-tuebingen.de/www.html).

The institutes of criminology atTübingen and Heidelberg universitiesjointly manage a bibliographic systemof literature in criminology with afocus on Germany. This system iscalled KrimDok and is available athttp://krimdok.ifk.jura.uni-

tuebingen.de/; a search form inEnglish exists. Moreover, theHeidelberg institute is involved inextensive research on juvenile justiceand in a meta-analysis of empiricalstudies on deterrence.

Criminologists at the universities ofConstance and Greifswald provideuseful material on the criminal justicesystem in Germany not easily to befound elsewhere. The ConstanceInstitute for Empirical Research in theField of Law publishes inventories oncrime trends in Germany and onresearch in sanctioning (http://www.uni-konstanz.de/rtf/kik/). TheGreifswald inventory on corrections(http://www.uni-greifswald.de/~ls3/GIS/GIS.htm) makes recent statisticaldata on the prison system in Germanyavailable. Other research units exist atmost of the universities that developedteaching programmes in criminology.

Two large research centres outsidethe university system exist inGermany. Recent research of thedepartment of criminology at MaxPlanck Institute for Foreign andInternational Criminal Law at Freiburgincludes studies on social controlespecially in the field of criminal law,the implementation and enforcementof penal sanctions, victimology,evaluation research, and comparativeand interdisciplinary criminologicaland legal research. Many results arepublished in English (http://www.iuscrim.mpg.de/forsch/research.html). The institute alsoparticipates in a research laboratoryjointly operating with two Frenchresearch centres - CESDIP in Paris andIFRESI at Lille. Among the researchtopics covered by this Franco-Germanlaboratory are studies on illegalimmigration, sentencing and criminalsanctions, drug markets and drugcareers, and victimization and the fearof crime. One of the researchlaboratory’s main goals concerns thedevelopment of comparative researchand methodology. A recent article inCriminology in Europe by LetiziaPaoli (2004) provides a more detaileddescription of the Max-PlanckInstitute’s work.

KFN - the Criminological ResearchInstitute of Lower Saxony - is an

Criminology in Germany Continued from page 3


independent and interdisciplinaryresearch institute located in Hanover.Its research focuses on offenders,victims, and institutions (http://www.kfn.de/indexengl.html). Severalof its more recent studies examineprison problems, among them theHanover Prison Study on theConsequences of Incarceration.Moreover, the institute is undertakingan extensive study on media use andschool achievement.

Several smaller research centresexist within or in close cooperationwith governmental agencies. TheFederal Criminal Police Office (BKA -http://www.bka.de/) has a researchteam whose work combines elementsof forensic sciences, research onorganised crime, drug trafficking,terrorism, and similar issues with amore case-oriented approach. Some ofthe 16 criminal police offices of thefederal states have also establishedsmaller research units. Policingresearch might be enhanced as a newGerman University of PoliceManagement will be founded withinthe next few years.

The justice system has its ownresearch institutions. The Centre for

Criminology (KrimZ) at Wiesbaden(http://www.krimz.de/) is not only aresearch institute but also functionsas a mediator between criminologicalresearch and the criminal justicesystem. Documentation is as importantas expert conferences or meetings.Smaller criminological service units existwithin the correctional systems ofseveral but not all the federal states.

PublicationsTo conclude, just a glance at

publications and how to ûnd them.Results of criminological research inGermany are typically published inGerman. Some efforts have been made,however, to enhance communicationon an international level. The corejournals of the discipline do notpublish articles in languages otherthan German, but both the moretraditional Monatsschrift fürKriminologie und Strafrechtsreform(http://www.mschrkrim.de/) and themore social-science orientedKriminologisches Journal (http://www.krimj.de/), provide for someabstracts in English – unfortunately,not all of them have been madeavailable on their web sites. Many

research centres publish Englishsummaries of their studies.TheKrimDok database system makesbibliographic searches in Englishpossible.

ReferencesDessecker, Axel, and Jörg-Martin

Jehle 2003. ‘Das Fach Kriminologieund die strafrechtsbezogenenSchwerpunktbereiche in derJuristenausbildung.’ Monatsschrift fürKriminologie und Strafrechtsreform86:433-42.

Gesellschaft für interdisziplinärewissenschaftliche Kriminologie. 2002.‘Zur Lage der Soziologie sozialerProbleme, abweichenden Verhaltensund sozialer Kontrolle an deutschenUniversitäten.’ KriminologischesJournal 34:158-59.

Paoli, L., and H-J. Albrecht. 2004.‘The Max-Planck Institute for Foreignand International Criminal Law.’Criminology in Europe 3(2):3,20-22.

Axel Dessecker is Deputy Directorof the Centre for Criminology atWiesbaden and a lecturer at theUniversity of Göttingen Faculty ofLaw.

year on the board as president-elect, ayear as president, and a year as pastpresident. Although it means addingmore personal commitments to analready overloaded work schedule, itallows for continuity and a greatlyincreased institutional memory. Heconsiders this important for a newsociety which is still seeking itsoptimal form.

There are several points he intendsto tackle while president of the ESC.First, he would like to consolidate thesociety in terms of trying its utmost toattract members and conferenceparticipants from all parts of Europe.Second, he aims to encourageyounger people to be both membersand active conference participants,dispersing the exclusive old boynetworks’ that dominated centralEuropean criminology just a few yearsago and allowing newcomers entry tothe hallowed ranks.

Hans-Jürgen urges his colleaguesin the ESC to reflect on the following.

Firstly, there is a wealth of talentedscholars in merry old Europe, but toofew among them are accustomed topresenting their work at conferences,particularly when forced by theAnglo-American lack of linguisticability to present their ideas inEnglish. Hans-Jürgen trusts inpersonal experience to persuade themto forget their concerns and relax.Attendance at conferences such asthe annual ESC meeting will quicklyconvince hesitant criminologists thatit is the ideas that matter rather thanlinguistic perfection.

‘Just get out their and present yourideas,’ he advises, ‘and your confidencewill gain a tremendous boost.’

Secondly, he considers it of utmostimportance that criminologistsincreasingly consider their power tobecome involved in all things rational,humane, and people-orientated inEuropean crime policy. This includesunflagging belief in rehabilitation andreintegration and an attempt to stem

the tide of retributive policies andpopulist penology sweeping acrossEurope, largely in response to thetabloid media. Hans-Jürgen believesthat European criminologists have anadvantage over their Americancolleagues in that they havereasonably good relationships withpolicy makers in the ministries andlocal communities. He wouldencourage criminologists to use atleast a small part of their energy tojoin some kind of practice to test howdistant their theoretical ideas are fromthe everyday world or how difficult itmight be to translate undoubtedlygood ideas into real world policies.

On a local and regional level, hesays, if you develop a good networkof contacts with people who haveregional influence, some of them willinevitably branch out into nationalpolitics or be appointed as members oflegislative committees. Becomeinvolved and spread your enlighten-ment. It is by no means futile.

Hans-Jürgen Kerner Continued from page 2


The Executive Board

The Executive Board shall administer all those affairs of the organization which are not left, by law or thisConstitution, to the General Assembly or any other body. The Executive Board is composed of elected andappointed members.

The elected members of the Executive Board are the following:a. Presidentb. President-Electc. Past-Presidentd. Two at-large Board members

The appointed members of the Executive Board are the following:(i) The Executive Secretary(ii) The Newsletter Editor(iii) The Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Criminology(iv) The Organizer of the next Annual Meeting(v) The Organizer of the last Annual Meeting

Elected members are voting members of the Executive Board and shall be actively involved in research and/orteaching in Europe. Appointed members are non-voting members of the Executive Board. Nevertheless, theNewsletter Editor can vote on issues related to the Newsletter; the Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal ofCriminology can vote on issues related to the European Journal of Criminology; and the Organizers of theAnnual Meetings can vote on issues related to the Annual Meetings. Members of the Executive Board shallnormally not occupy at the same time more than one of functions (a) to (d) and (i) to (v) listed above.The Executive Board can invite, occasionally or permanently, further non-voting members to participate in itsmeetings.

The president is elected for a term of three business years: the first year as President-Elect, the second year asPresident, and the third year as Past-President. The President, the President-Elect, and the Past-President shallnot come from the same country. A former President of the ESC is not eligible for re-election as President but iseligible for any other elected or appointed position on the Executive Board.

The two-at large Board members are elected for a term of two business years. There must be an interval of twoyears between any two terms served by them on the Executive Board.

The Executive Secretary, the Newsletter Editor, and the Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Criminologyare appointed by the Executive Board for a term of five business years, reconfirmable annually by the ExecutiveBoard.

The Executive Board shall meet at least once in each business year. It decides by vote of the majority of thosemembers entitled to vote who are present at the meeting, or alternatively by postal ballot. No member shall takepart in the discussion or vote where a conflict of interest may arise between his or her personal interests andthose of the ESC.

The Executive Board takes office on the day following the General Assembly that takes place during the AnnualMeeting. The business year ends on the day of the General Assembly that takes place during the following

AMENDED SECTION 4 OF THE ESC CONSTITUTION


countries outside Europe. Table 1shows where attendees have comefrom.

The ESC has tried to hold itsannual meetings in different parts ofEurope, both symbolically todemonstrate that it aims to include allof Europe and because it wasexpected that meetings in particularregions would draw especially heavilyfrom that region. That is what hashappened.

The Lausanne meeting in 2001drew especially heavily from southernand western Europe (including Spain,Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium,Germany, and the Netherlands).

The Toledo meeting in 2002 had,not surprisingly, especially largeattendance from Spain, Belgium,France, and Italy.

The Helsinki meeting in 2003, againnot surprisingly, attracted especiallylarge numbers of participants fromFinland, Sweden, Norway, andDenmark.

The Amsterdam meetingexperienced especially heavyparticipation from the Netherlands,Germany, and Belgium.

The Krakow meeting, as hoped,attracted the largest attendance to

Who Attends the Annual ESC Meetings?

TABLE 2Countries with at least Ten Participants

Lausanne Toledo Helsinki Amsterdam Krakow

U.K. - 90 U.K. - 122 U.K. - 62 U.K. - 127 U.K. - 103Netherlands - 44 Spain - 60 Finland - 41 Netherlands - 107 Germany - 33Germany - 40 U.S.A. - 40 Sweden - 32 U.S.A. - 39 Poland - 32Italy - 26 Belgium - 27 U.S.A. - 24 Germany - 36 Netherlands - 30U.S.A. - 23 France - 22 Netherlands - 23 Belgium - 35 U.S.A. - 30Sweden - 18 Netherlands - 22 Italy - 19 Norway - 13 Belgium - 23Belgium - 15 Italy - 18 Norway - 16 Italy - 13 Italy - 20France - 13 Germany - 16 Belgium - 15 Spain -13 Australia - 13Spain - 11 Germany - 16 Canada - 11 Finland - 12

Denmark - 12 Sweden - 10 Switzerland - 12Finland - 10

Continued from page 5

date from eastern Europe. There were76 participants from Central, Eastern,and Southeastern Europe, making up16.1 percent of participants. Fourteencountries in these regions wererepresented.

All of these patterns are as meetingorganisers hoped they would be. TheESC, however, still has some distanceto go before it can claim genuinely tohave achieved equal participation fromthroughout Europe,.

The largest number of participantsat each meeting has come from theUnited Kingdom. Five other countries(Belgium, Germany, Italy, theNetherlands, and the U.S.A.) havesent at least 10 participants to eachmeeting. Spain and Finland have beenin double digits three times. Five othercountries have been in double digitsat least once.

All-in-all, 13 countries have been indouble digits at least once. That’s notbad coverage.

The countries that regularly sendsizeable numbers are not onlypopulous countries with well-established criminological traditionssuch as the U.K., the U.S.A., andGermany. Some are smaller countries,including Belgium, which has had

criminological departments in itsuniversities for more than half acentury, and the Netherlands, whichhas long been highly activeinternationally.

That smaller countries and poorercountries, and countries without well-established departments andtraditions are less well-represented isunderstandable. The long-term aimthough, is to have broadlyrepresentative participationthroughout the continent. The ESC iswell on its way to realising that goal.

* * * * *

Sebastian C. Proband is anindependent criminologist andoccasional contributor tocriminology publications.


New Criminology Books from WNew Criminology Books from Willan Publishingillan Publishing

Handbook of Crime Prevention and Community SafetyEdited by Nick Tilley (Nottingham Trent University)

This book provides a comprehensive, authoritative and wide-ranging account of the background, theory and practice ofcrime prevention and community safety. It will be essential reading for anybody with interests in these fields, and will bethe major work of reference on this subject for those engaged in the practice, study or teaching of crime prevention.

September 2005 816pp (246 x 171mm) ISBN: 1843921464 (paperback) £29.50 ISBN: 1843921472 (hardback) £65.00

Making People Behave: anti-social behaviour, politics and policyElizabeth Burney (Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge)

This book seeks to explain why anti-social behaviour, as a focus of political rhetoric, legislative activity and social action, hasgained a high profile in Britain in recent years, and it provides a critical examination of current policies of enforcement andexclusion. It also analyses the thematic elements in the drive against anti-social behaviour, within the wider law and agenda.

September 2005 208pp (234 x 156mm)ISBN: 1843921375 (paperback) £17.99 ISBN: 1843921383 (hardback) £40.00

Community Justice: issues for probation and criminal justiceEdited by Jane Winstone (University of Portsmouth) and Francis Pakes (University of Portsmouth)

This book provides an accessible text and critical analysis of the concepts and delivery of community justice, a focal point incontemporary criminal justice. The probation service in particular has undergone radical changes in relation to professionaltraining, roles and delivery of services, but now operates within a mosaic of a number of inter-agency initiatives.

September 2005 320pp (234 x 156mm)ISBN: 1843921286 (paperback) £22.00

Football HooliganismSteve Frosdick (University of Portsmouth) and Peter Marsh (Social Issues Research Centre, Oxford)

This book provides a highly readable introduction to the phenomenon of football hooliganism, ideal for students taking coursesaround this subject as well as those having a professional interest in the subject, such as the police and those responsible forstadium safety and management. For anybody else wanting to learn more about one of society’s most intractable problems,this book is the place to start.

July 2005 224pp (246 x 171mm)ISBN: 1843921294 (paperback) £18.99

For further information about these and other forthcoming books, or to place an order, please contact

Willan Publishing on:

(tel) +44(0)1884 849085, (fax) +44(0)1884 840251,

E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.willanpublishing.co.uk

or write to:

Willan Publishing, Culmcott House, Mill Street, Uffculme, Devon EX15 3AT, UK

Hate CrimeNathan Hall (University of Portsmouth)

This text aims examines various aspects of ‘hate crime’ in a predominantly British context, but situating this within the widerinternational criminological and policing literature on the subject. The book looks in detail at the way the police have respondedto hate crime, and the policies and practice now being adopted to respond to it.

August 2005 288pp (234 x 156mm)ISBN: 1843921308 (paperback) £18.99 ISBN: 1843921316 (hardback) £40.00

Designing out Crime from Products and SystemsEdited by Ronald V. Clarke (Rutgers Univ, New Jersey) and Graeme R. Newman (The University at Albany, New York)

Crime Prevention Studies (Series editor: Ron Clarke), vol 18 (co-published with Criminal Justice Press, New York)

The theme of this volume is how to design products that are resistant to crime, examining a range of approaches and casestudies as well as analysing the role of government and the corporate sectors.

August 2005 232pp (230 x 150mm)ISBN: 1881798593 (paperback) £27.50 ISBN: 1881798585 (hardback) £40.00

Documents

Newsletter of the CRIMINOLOGY IN EUROPE VOL. 4 • NO. 3 ... · Newsletter of the EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGYCRIMINOLOGY IN EUROPE VOL. 4 • NO. 3 NEWSLETTER OF THE EUROPEAN