Department of Criminology

Heads of project: Michael Kilchling, Gunda Wössner
Access to telephone and other forms of electronic communication is one of the areas in which prison conditions vary significantly in Germany. The divergent conditions raise several fundamental human rights concerns, such as equal treatment of inmates, the right of resocialization, and the rights to privacy and family life. more

Heads of project: Jean-Louis van Gelder, Willem Frankenhuis
Why are some people more likely to commit crime than others? Answers to this question, which is at the heart of criminology, can be grouped into two broad views. On the one hand, dispositional perspec­tives argue that stable factors within the individual, such as lack of self-control, lie at the roots of criminal conduct. more

Heads of project: Tatjana Hörnle, Carina Tetal
As digitalization has made it easier to produce, copy, and distribute images, the number of convictions for posses­sion and distribution of child abuse images and videos (in legal terminology: child pornography offenses) has risen steeply. The increasing severity of criminal sanctions targeting child pornography (also referred to as child sexual exploitation material) is justified as necessary to pre­vent child sexual abuse. more

Head of project: Jean-Louis van Gelder
The 360º Virtual Scenario Method research program aims to remedy some of the defects of the traditional written scenario (or “vignette”) method by employing immersive 360º video. This immersive method is based on the as­sump­tion that the commonly used written scenarios lack contextual detail and are unlikely to capture the more visceral and emotional aspects that surround real-world offending, which commonly occurs during “hot” and al­tered states of mind. more

Head of project: Jean-Louis van Gelder
The Virtual Burglary Project is a research program co-headed by Prof. Claire Nee (University of Portsmouth) and involves a collaboration with researchers from Leiden University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The Virtual Burglary Project uses a VR approach to better understand the behavior of residential burglars and to contribute to crime prevention. Data collections occur in Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom. more