Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law

At the beginning of the 21st century, right-wing extremism and xenophobia still constitute a serious problem for modern societies, particularly in the context of the continual growth of international relationships. During the early nineties, the rapid increase of xenophobic violence and election successes of right-extremist parties in Germany provoked various responses by scientists and the public. Meanwhile, numerous studies have dealt with right-wing extremism from a variety of different theoretical angles. Despite the heterogeneity of current theoretical positions, it is clear that xenophobic violence is primarily a phenomenon that concerns the young. The majority of perpetrators are male juveniles and young adults who commit their violent offences against foreigners, immigrants, as well as homeless people or homosexuals based on right-wing extremist ideologies. Although intensive scientific efforts have been undertaken, xenophobic violence in the context of the penal system has not played a significant role in socio-scientific research up until now.

Hence, the main objective of this study is to analyse the impact of imprisonment, on young men who have committed hate crimes. This will be done in terms of changes in right-wing extremist 'belief' patterns. The major focus is on the extent to which custody may intensify, diminish or modify xenophobic attitudes in its formal dimensions. The study addresses the specific conditions of both internal (person-related) and external (institutional) parameters which may lead to consolidation or renunciation of these belief patterns and violent tendencies. First of all, it is important to analyse whether the offence which is officially labelled as hate crime was actually driven by an ideology. If so, what do these right extremist patterns consist of? Is it mainly a rejection of social minorities or do other dimensions play a role such as nationalism or anti-Semitism?

With regard to the individual conditions the study concentrates mainly on the influence of the socio-demographic background, personality and authoritarian traits on right-extremist attitudes during incarceration. Institutional factors comprise both formal (e. g. prison type and size, training opportunities, ethnic composition of inmates) and informal variables (e.g. subcultures, group conflicts, interaction with prison staff members). Initially the question which comes out concerns the significance of the specific institutional setting in terms of institutional placement or the detainees’ ethnic composition etc. on right-extremist tendencies. The influence of group-internal processes at least regarding the offence is undoubted, but what role do inter- and intra-group processes play for xenophobic attitudes in prison? Are there xenophobic conflicts between inmates and how are these conflicts resolved? Another question concerns the role of management and staff members. How do they deal with xenophobic conflicts and offenders? For instance, do they have specific rules and strategies to prevent such behaviour? Further research interest is directed towards the xenophobic detainees’ ongoing relationships with their former right-extremist cliques or even organisations.

The dynamics of right-wing extremist belief patterns and behaviour within youth custodies are largely unknown. Consequently, this study applies quantitative methods such as standardised questionnaires for instance regarding personality and authoritarian traits or prisonization as well as qualitative interviews. The study will be longitudinal (t1: begin of custody; t2: 7 – 9 month later in the course of custody) and will consist of there different samples:

(a) detained right-extremist violent offenders

(b) detained violent offenders without a right-extremist background

(c) right-extremist juveniles without any experiences of imprisonment

The respective samples comprise exclusively German male adolescent between the age of 14 and 24. The sample size will be presumably 15 to 20 persons per each group. This study is a part of the project Hate Crime — Prison Experience and its Impact on Self Concept and Identity of Juvenile Xenophobic Violent Criminals which is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is carried out nationwide in close collaboration with youth detention centres and a variety of different youth welfare services.