Forensic biology

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As Kriminalbiologie is defined as the science that deals with the physical, especially the genetic characteristics of an offender of a crime. In the past, the term criminal anthropology was widely used synonymously.

Origins

As a result of Charles Darwin's reception, criminal biology played an increasingly important role in the scientific discourse on crime . The criminal, once viewed as a morally stumbled person, was now viewed more as a biologically defective being, as a “prevented” rather than a “fallen” person (Peter Becker). With Lombroso's studies (1876) and the discussions around it, the biological approach established itself as one of several currents that would influence the emergence of criminology as a science in the 1880s and 1890s . In Bavaria, the criminal biological service has been collecting information on the physical characteristics of prisoners since 1924. In 1927 Adolf Lenz (Graz) founded the Criminal Biological Society .

The time of National Socialism and the consequences

Forensic biology experienced its breakthrough during the National Socialist era . The later urban “youth psychiatrist” Robert Ritter in Frankfurt am Main used them extensively at that time, with the intention of laying the foundations for the murder of tens of thousands of Roma and Sinti . In his and Heinrich Himmler's view, 9 out of 10 “Gypsies” had no right to live. From 1941 on, Ritter headed a forensic biology institute of the Security Police in the Security Police Main Office , which had been part of the RSHA since September 1939 . Notker Hammerstein justified Ritter's actions in 1999 in a "commissioned work" ( Ernst Klee ) for the German Research Foundation (and thus also those of his Nazi employees Eva Justin , also from the city of Frankfurt, and Sophie Ehrhardt ). However, after Klee's criticism, Hammerstein's book was indirectly questioned by the DFG itself.

literature

  • Christian Bachhiesl: The Josef Streck Case. A convict, his professor and the exploration of personality (= field research. 1). Lit, Wien et al. 2006, ISBN 3-8258-9579-3 (2nd edition, ibid, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8258-9579-2 ).
  • Christian Bachhiesl: On the construction of the criminal personality. The criminal biology at the Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (= series of legal-historical studies. 12). Dr. Kovač, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-8300-2166-6 (also: Graz, University, dissertation, 2004).
  • Walter Bagehot : Physics and Politics, or: Thoughts on the Application of the Principles of "Natural Selection" and "Inheritance" to Political Society. King, London 1872.
  • Peter Becker : Corruption and Degeneration. A history of 19th century criminology as discourse and practice (= publications of the Max Planck Institute for History. 176). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002, ISBN 3-525-35172-0 (also: Göttingen, Universität, habilitation paper, 2000).
  • Peter Busse (Red.): Criminal Biology (= Legal Contemporary History NRW. 6, ZDB -ID 1424746-x ). Ministry of Justice of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf 1997.
  • Nadine Hohlfeld: Modern Forensic Biology. The development of criminal biology from the determinism of the 19th to the bio-social theories of the 20th century. A critical presentation of modern forensic biological research and its criminal policy demands (= Würzburger Schriften zur Kriminalwissenschaft. 2). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2002, ISBN 3-631-38899-3 (At the same time: Würzburg, University, dissertation, 2001).
  • Claudia Schoßleitner: Austria's contribution to criminal biology . Linz 1991, (Linz, University, dissertation, 1991).
  • Jürgen Simon: Forensic Biology and Forced Sterilization. Eugenic racism 1920–1945 (= international university publications . 372). Waxmann, Münster et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8309-1063-0 (Also: Münster, Universität, Dissertation, 2001).