Criminal people

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Criminal people (subtitle: On the criminal science of creating evil ) is the title of a book by the Austrian philosopher Peter Strasser , first published in 1984 by Campus Verlag (Frankfurt am Main) , in which the author takes a critical look at biological , perpetrator-oriented variants of criminology , especially Cesare Lombroso's concept of the “criminal man” (“L'uomo delinquente”). In 2005, the work appeared in a second edition, expanded to include a new foreword and a final chapter (“The new control thinking in criminology”).

Origin of the term "criminal man"

For the first time, Cesare Lombroso gave his book, published in 1876, the title “L'uomo delinquente. In rapporto all'antropologia, alla giurisprudenza ed alle discipline carcerarie “given. The component "L'uomo delinquente" can literally be translated as "criminal man". In 1984 by the Austrian legal philosopher Peter Strasser published book “Verbrechermenschen. For the Criminal Science Creation of Evil ”the term is used again as a book title. Already through the choice of words, the combination of the words criminal and human , it becomes clear that Strasser deals with the teachings of Lombroso, among other things. By merging the two nouns, Peter Strasser delimits the subject of his consideration from theories of environmental delinquency (theories of crime ) and scientific analyzes of normal people , "Homo sapiens".

Guiding principles of the book

"The aim of the present study is to use the model of one of the most influential political order and disciplining sciences of our century to investigate the interplay of reason , myth and morality " (Strasser 2005, page 7). In the foreword he himself describes his book as unintentionally tending to be destructive and defines the term criminology used in the book as primarily related to the perpetrator and based on the etiology of the violation of law. The expanded new edition from 2005 contains, in addition to the otherwise unchanged book, a chapter on Strasser's assessment of the latest developments in criminology.

Chapter I: The Object of Criminology

Configuration of the motifs

In this chapter, Strasser first deals with the configuration of the motifs. He notes that a motive for a crime has both a causal and a moral dimension. The causal dimension describes the external circumstances that lead to the act, the moral dimension the “evil” lying in the person, which turns the perpetrator into a “beast”. In investigating the causes, criminology tries to analyze the criminal scientifically and empirically in all facets; To do this, it avails itself of the help of criminal biology, psychology, pathology, physiognomy and sociology. At this point Strasser assumes that criminology is devoted to some of its research with the aim of serving criminal policy.

Declarations of crimes and penalties

Next, Strasser focuses on declarations of crimes and concepts of punishment. After criminals were publicly punished in earlier centuries, corporal punishment gradually gave way to imprisonment at the end of the 18th century. The autonomously acting criminal, whose action was publicly punished as an expression of divine justice, is increasingly becoming a being without free will, who acts on the basis of his abnormal personality and needs therapeutic help. According to Lombroso, the first representative of this trend, this abnormality is reflected in the physiognomy , among other things . The criminal act itself is triggered by external stimuli. The subject of a criminal's free will is hardly discussed in contemporary criminology. The so-called Défence sociale has another delinquent term. Here the criminal is viewed detached from his act; there are enough circumstantial evidence that make him a potential criminal to take him into custody indefinitely. Another approach to approaching the causes of the crime comes from psychology . The attempt is made to research the intentions of the actions, taking into account, among other things, individual motives, wishes, hopes, perceptions and levels of consciousness. Only in exceptional cases does the criminal act under duress. The psychoanalysis tried to approach the causes of crimes and has accepted that coming from the lower class criminals and superego weaknesses and gaps found him to be him for criminals leave. At this point, Strasser does not offer a final solution for a penal concept.

To the constitution of the object

Under this heading, Strasser initially establishes research into the causes, nature and effectiveness of crime as an object of criminological discourse. This object changes depending on your approach. However, for him the naturalistic method, which sees the human being as a bio-machine, is just as unsuccessful as the intentionalistic method, which assumes the perpetrator has free will and can understand the act as such, or the moralistic method, which calls the criminal act "evil". classified with "evil causes" and viewed as a unit. For Peter Strasser, which point of view the research considers to be adequate depends on how one reacts to violations of the law: with classic punishment for an intentionalist view and therapy or rehabilitation for a naturalistic one.

The labyrinth of criminology

This paragraph first deals with the issue of the criminal's automatism, which has already been touched on and which is decisive for the way in which he is treated. One possibility to recognize the autonomy in action is to base an action on the compulsive character to which it is subject. A final answer to the question remains open. Autonomy is particularly important because on it depends the moral evaluation of the action in which criminological research is involved. Strasser is of the opinion that the only way to separate the evaluation of "evil" from the criminal and to humanize the way he is dealt with is to strictly separate action and perpetrator. Such an attempt is made by the labeling approach, in which certain acts of an individual are labeled as crimes. The naturalistic approach does not separate the actions from the agent, but tries in part to identify the "evil" in every person or to give the criminal a different expression in order to remove him from the evaluation of "evil". At the end, Strasser asks the unanswered question whether criminological research is even possible without evaluation.

Chapter II: Myth as Science

Homo delinquents

In this chapter Strasser mainly deals with Lombroso's explanatory approach. In the section “Homo Delinquens” he first describes the discovery that founded his teaching. In the skull of the robber Vilella he discovers an occipital fossa that is otherwise only found in lower mammals. Lombroso then attributes certain anatomical features on the face and body to criminals, as well as insensitivity to pain, so that they can be easily recognized by these features and tattoos. Since these characteristics are innate and often of an atavistic nature, for Lombroso the criminal is a morally insane atavistic being in whom evil resides. These stigmata do not apply to women who are generally born to be criminals, but who can easily be deterred from crimes by men. The basic classification of women corresponds to the Christian-Western worldview, in which the woman, complementary to the man, embodies the dark side, irrationality and seduction.

Myth as science

The section “On the Structure of Myth as Science” deals with the philosophical background of Lombroso's research. The archaic, mythical character of the criminal therefore has different manifestations. Lombroso assigns different facial contours to different crimes. The thief already differs from the murderer in his physiognomy. For him, these different characteristics are symbolic and represent a certain type of criminal. As in myth, each characteristic represents a variety of an evil characteristic here. Because he tries to link the individual physical characteristics causally and functionally with the respective offense, the mythical consideration becomes a scientific analysis.

Logos of evil

In "The Logos of Evil" Strasser places the criminal in Lombroso's worldview. He conceived the criminal as a cultural threat. However, not the criminal himself, but the evil, whose power he symbolizes, is the threat to order. If you get too close to this power, you run the risk of being seized by it yourself and of becoming "evil" too. This line of argument paves the way for the Défence sociale, the preventive locking up of criminals who, based on research in Lombroso, are easily recognizable due to their stigmata. The criminal is demythed by the current criminal law, which initially assumes the free will of the perpetrator until proven otherwise. He is not fundamentally a beast, but only when his act gives cause. The taking and appraisal of evidence in criminal proceedings also contributes to demythification. The presumption of innocence does not distinguish the criminal from other people, therefore Lombroso's criminal aetiology is undermined at this point.

Chapter III: Shadow Play of Freedom

Mythical revivals

Here Strasser notes that criminological research originally pursued the goal of demythifying crime and the criminal. The crimes are defined as slumbering in every human being, as a manifesting mental illness or as an imputation by society. The result is the psychopath , a mentally ill person whose illness manifests itself through his sometimes bestial, mythical criminal behavior. His behavior, however, is subject to free will, which makes the criminal "angry" and brings him into the realm of myths. This view becomes clear in the case law of the German Federal Court of Justice of 1966, which makes a perpetrator responsible for his act if it is the result of a lack of character and not the result of a mental illness. In the more recent jurisprudence, deficiencies in character have a mitigating effect.

Free will

"Liberum Arbitrium Fugitivum" deals with the question of the extent to which people can control their behavior and when they can no longer make a free decision about their behavior. Furthermore, Strasser goes into the reactions of the environment to uncontrolled behavior. He cites the examples of the kleptomaniac and the relapsed nonsmoker. For the kleptomaniac, his theft is counted as a compulsion that he cannot resist. In the case of the relapsed non-smoker, there is, on the one hand, the faction that knows about the fact that, like others, he could have controlled himself, but understands it because his personality development can be modeled. She doesn't judge his behavior. The other faction, e.g. B. a family doctor, condemns the behavior because she only pragmatically sees the negative consequences for the body of the relapsed non-smoker. Despite intensive research, it has sometimes not been possible to scientifically fathom when a person has control over an action. How, Strasser asks in conclusion, is it possible to assume freedom of action from a psychopathic criminal, but to absolve the mentally ill criminal of guilt because he acted under unavoidable compulsion?

To pragmatize the question of freedom

Under this heading, Peter Strasser deals with the question of which state reaction to behavior, including the freedom of action of the perpetrator, makes sense. The above-mentioned kleptomaniac is not a suitable object for punishment because it does not affect his behavior after serving the punishment. However, a psychopathic murderer who is presumed to have free will is the correct addressee for a sentence, as it affects his behavior after the service has been served. According to the theory of character guilt, reproach and punishment and the suffering caused to him have a positive effect on his morality, he feels guilty and will in future behave in accordance with the law. The fact that the majority of prison inmates behave differently calls this approach into question. Some of the detained delinquents see themselves as victims of adverse circumstances, others see the punishment as an occupational risk. In addition, the criminalization of a person often leads to social isolation, which has a negative effect on rehabilitation. But if the morality of the individual is not changed by punishment, then a change in behavior is only based on avoiding the loss of freedom and the inconvenience of imprisonment associated with being locked up. These explanations also make it clear that human freedom of action cannot be scientifically grasped and can only be influenced to a limited extent.

The badly ill in criminology

In the section it is first stated by Strasser that in z. B. German criminal law is responsible for judging whether the perpetrator is not able to see his injustice due to legally stipulated psychological defects. These defects are determined by forensic psychiatrists and based on various points of his personality , such as: B. previous behavior, severity of mental illness, behavior before the act. Many endogenous mentally ill people are recognized as insane , but not psychopaths. They are called abnormal, not sick, which at most has a mitigating effect. For Strasser, the exclusion of psychopaths has pragmatic reasons. B. in the fact that the public would like to see typical criminals punished, the judiciary only wants to allow a waiver of punishment in exceptional cases and psychiatrists do not want to fill the institutions with untreatable psychopaths. For Strasser, forensic psychiatry is based on the 3-instance model of personality developed by Plato , in which the mind as the highest instance controls the will as the second instance, which in turn monitors the third instance, namely the instincts. Failures of reason lead to insanity, while the psychopath has a defect in the area of ​​will, which results in poor drive control, but does not affect the sane. In the following, Strasser devotes himself to therapeutic criminology. This approach comes from psychoanalysis. The criminal is in an unconscious struggle between his instincts and a defective superego, with the result that the intact ego loses control over the actions. Delinquency occurs. This circumstance is defined as sick and provides a reason to admit the criminal to an institution until he is cured, which in individual cases can mean a lifelong stay and conceals the punitive nature of the measure. Despite the pathologization of the criminal, he is assumed to be responsible for his act. The mythical evil creature from the teachings of Lombroso survives in this criminological movement as well. For Strasser, therapeutic criminology is based above all on the ineffectiveness of prison sentences and the livelihood of their own profession created by the therapists. A central component of the therapy is the complete analysis of the criminal, the old sick identity must be given up and a new healthy one accepted.

Mythical and anti-mythical about the concept of freedom

The last section of the chapter first deals briefly with the development of the concept of freedom in western cultures. In the pre-Platonic era, the actions of people are partly mythified, based on the will of gods or demons who worked through people. Plato developed the above-mentioned 3-instance model, which was continued by the church teacher Augustine in his teaching of the “liberum arbitrium” and granted humans autonomous action as a divine gift and an expression of their closeness to them. This concept of freedom is used in the Middle Ages to punish without purpose, since disregard of the earthly laws intended by God are blasphemy or even represent a symbol for a pact between man and the devil, i.e. evil. By engaging in criminology, in particular forensic and therapeutic criminology, with the concept of freedom, the hybrid nature of the psychopath emerges, who may not have his instincts under control due to illness, but still has free will, i.e. can still be evil. At the end of the chapter, Strasser suspects that an outsourcing of evil from the criminal would turn him into a bio-machine without dignity, if this outsourcing simultaneously deprives him of his autonomy of action.

Chapter IV: Resonances on Evil

Phenomenological

Strasser begins the first section with an analysis of how criminals' autobiographies affect society. If he wants to make himself understandable to a wide audience, he is forced to adapt his representations to the ideas of this group of people, who like to see the criminal as a stray or stumbled being with basically a good character. He can also show himself to the educated bourgeoisie as an evil antisocial whose actions are those of a psychopath. While the stray criminal is shown understanding and benevolence, the psychopath is met with hatred, horror and a defensive attitude, but also with the fascination that evil brings with it. As an example of the biography of an evil psychopath, Strasser cites the book Der Minus-Mann by Heinz Sobota , published in 1978 , which describes his senseless acts of violence very drastically and vividly. However, Sobota violates the rules of dealing with criminal evil through the nature of the depictions. The unaesthetic description and the irrationality of his actions mean that the reader cannot classify them, that he sees the danger that this form of violence could spread like a virus and no longer be controllable.

Methodical

Here, Strasser takes up Friedrich Nietzsche's idea that the more perspectives one approaches, the better one recognizes a thing. Now every perspective, i.e. every method of knowledge, suffers from one-sidedness, which for Strasser is based, among other things, on the fear of recognizing something unwanted in the object of knowledge. This also applies to criminology, whose methods of researching crime have not included the fact that “evil” can slumber in everyone for a long time for fear of the consequences in the repertoire of perspectives. Only psychoanalysis takes this approach. For Strasser, this knowledge is indispensable in order to take power over people and society from the "evil".

ethics

Strasser notices a change in the area of ​​ethics, by which criminological research must also be measured. Whereas in the past abductive research was carried out in all directions, today more and more goal-oriented mainstream research is being carried out. The researched “truth” is only accepted as long as it is in harmony with Strasser's so-called “knowledge-guiding interests”. Criminology becomes a vehicle for politics and current moral outlook. Right at the beginning of criminological research and when considering how to deal with criminals, criminologists try to represent their point of view in a way that is appropriate to the target group and that fits into the respective moral trend. Beccaria already called in his work “dei delitti e delle pene”, published in 1764, for the abolition of torture, the death penalty and milder sentences. Strasser suspects that Beccaria, with his argument that lifelong bondage is far more torture for the criminal than a short execution and would also have a more deterrent effect, was adapting the arguments to the moral concept of the time in order to cover up his humanitarian aspirations. By implementing such demands, the humanitarian idea can be forfeited, which in certain circumstances allows criminals to be treated worse than before despite the well-intentioned intention of the research.

The new control thinking in criminology

After the past decades have been characterized by a humanization of the legal system and a turn away from the theories of the born, non-resocializable criminal towards modern concepts of punishment and reintegration, Strasser notes a return to the teachings of Lombroso and his followers. For him, the reason for the renaissance of biological explanatory approaches in criminology is a new way of thinking about order. From the end of the 1960s, the prevailing humanistic image of humans and therefore also of criminals has given way to a naturalistic image of human beings in which humans are increasingly viewed as bio-machines and thus lose part of their dignity. The incompatibility between the natural sciences and the humanities, which went well into the last century and is also reflected in criminology, no longer exists in large parts. Due to the ever advancing research, especially in the brain area, humans have lost their special position, the functionality of the human brain is compared to that of a computer. The new orderly thinking is based on the one hand in a powerlessness in the face of the momentum of the globalizing market, which seeks compensation in the eradication of anti-social, i.e. also criminal, behavior. On the other hand, the latent fear of the western world of attacks, violent crimes and also foreign crime nourishes the new need for order.

Bibliography

  • Hare, Robert D (1999): Without Conscience
  • Huchzermeier, Christian et al. (2003): “Psychopathy and Personality Disorders. Relationship of the "psychopathy checklist" according to Hare to the classification of the DSM-IV in violent offenders ", in: Monthly magazine for criminology and criminal law reform (MschrKrim) 86/3, 206–215
  • Strasser, Peter (2005): Criminal People. On the forensic generation of evil, 2nd expanded new edition
  • Sack, Fritz (1968): “New Perspectives in Criminology”, in: Fritz Sack / René König (eds): Kriminalsoziologie, Frankfurt a. M.
  • Wiesendanger, Harald (1986) Criminal People. On the forensic production of evil (book review) in: Kriminologisches Journal 18 (1): 69–73