Criminal case file analysis of politically motivated and terrorism-related offences in Germany within the national research network “Monitoring system and transfer platform on radicalisation“ (MOTRA)

Project date range: 2025 – 2028

Description

The Centre for Criminology (KrimZ) is part of a national research network building a monitoring platform for the early detection and prevention of extremism as a contact and information point for scientists, authorities, civil society and policy makers funded in the context of the German Federal Government's civil security research program. The network is coordinated by the terrorism and extremism research unit of the Federal Criminal Police Office. It includes Berghof Foundation (Berlin), Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), the University of Hamburg – Faculty of Law –, the University of Karlsruhe – Karlsruhe Institute of Technology –, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich – Department of Media and Communication –, German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), and Hochschule Fresenius in Wiesbaden.

Criminal case file analysis

The Centre for Criminology (KrimZ) sub-project is mainly concerned with the analysis of files from criminal proceedings against extremist offenders and persons suspected of such offences in Germany. Building on the first funding period (12/2019-01/2025), the extensive file analysis on offenses under terrorism law (in Germany, ss 89a-89c, s 91 and ss 129a-129b of the German Criminal Code – StGB) will be continued and supplemented with current proceedings, regardless of whether these offences have a right-wing extremist, left-wing extremist or "Islamist" background. The database will also be expanded to include cases of politically motivated violent crime registered by the police.

In addition to the continuation and expansion of the criminal case file analysis, instruments for assessing the (continued) dangerousness of convicted offenders are being tested using selected case files. Finally, recidivism will be analysed using data from the Federal Central Criminal Register in cooperation with the Institute of Criminal Sciences at the University of Göttingen.

The files analysed contain a wealth of information on such cases that were investigated by the police and prosecution authorities in Germany. This also includes data on the biography of the accused persons going beyond information already known to the public. At the same time, the files document how criminal law on terrorism is applied in practice. Overall, the project allows for a description of the practice of criminal law beyond those cases that are consistently in the public eye. At the same time, it contributes to the explanation of terrorist crimes.

Contact

Dr. Sebastian Sobota
Lena Fecher
Maria-Anna Hirth

Former researchers

Prof. Dr. Axel Dessecker
Jonas Knäble
Antonia Mischler