Recidivism of Preventive Detainees and Dangerous PeopleA follow-up studyBetween 1992 and 1996 an extensive study was carried out on the German sanction of “Sicherungsverwahrung” (preventive detention) in the Max Planck Institute. It was published in 1996, the title being “Die Sicherungsverwahrung auf dem Prüfstand”. Some of the results which reflect comparative aspects of the study are also published in the European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, vol. 5 (1997), 27-57 (“Preventive measures for dangerous recidivists”). |
| Project category: | Research project |
| Organizational status: | Departmental project |
| Project time frame: | Project commences: 1999 Project ends: 2006 |
| Project status: | Completed |
| Project language(s): | German |
Head(s) of project:
The core of the project constitutes an empirical research on preventive detainees and the use and implementation of preventive detention. Therefore, we examined the criminal records of 318 persons sentenced to preventive detention mainly during the eighties. In addition we selected another group of people which were sentenced between 1988 and 1990, because they had committed severe sexual or violent offences (rape, robbery, extortion). Although this group (183 people) fulfilled the formal requirements of preventive detention laid down in § 66 of the penal code (Strafgesetzbuch) the courts merely imposed prison sentences of two or more years. Until 1993, just a few of the former preventive detainees released from prison had relapsed. However, the period in liberty was too short to obtain valid results.
The present follow-up longitudinal study shall focus on the actual criminal career of the 501 persons (consisting of that are presently or have formerly been in preventive detention, and 183 dangerous people that have been released from prison). We aim to compare the criminal careers of both groups.
The results of the study shall be published in 2006. Eight chapters shall be dealt with. After some introductory remarks (1) first of all the development of German legislation on preventive detention since the mid-nineties will be described (2). Then new empirical findings on dangerous offenders made in Germany will be reported (3) followed by an analysis of data on preventive detention which can be found in criminal statistics (4).
After that, an introduction in our own empirical study will be given (5). As source of our data we use the criminal register which is kept by the General federal Prosecutor. Relying on these data we try to follow the criminal careers of these 500 persons, detainees (6) and non detainees (7). At the end (8) the results will be summarized and some conclusions on appropriate sanctions for dangerous people will be made.
First of all we faced the problem that the register reported for about 50 persons as result „no registration“. Intensive inquiries led to the conclusion that most of these people have died, even 18 of them during the execution of the sentence or the preventive detention. Because more and more people serve preventive detention (also for longer periods), the state face the increasing problem that preventive detainees will die within prisons. This fact emerges some ethical questions.
Without these dead persons, criminal careers of 267 preventive detainees and 159 other dangerous people could be analyzed (march 2006). The analysis of these data has already produced some remarkable results. For example, ten years after the beginning of the study in 1993, approximately one third of these preventive detainees were still (or again) in preventive detention, another third were released. Approximately 20% served a prison sentence.
Meanwhile 14 persons of the control group got also a sanction of preventive detention after having committed new offences.
Publications (selection):
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Kinzig, J.: Die Legalbewährung gefährlicher Rückfalltäter.
Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Entwicklung des Rechts der Sicherungsverwahrung. Kriminologische Forschungsberichte, Berlin 2008, 368 p.; 2nd revised ed. 2010, 388 p. -
Kinzig, J.: Die Sicherungsverwahrung auf dem Prüfstand.
Ergebnisse einer theoretischen und empirischen Bestandsaufnahme des Zustandes einer Maßregel. Kriminologische Forschungsberichte, Freiburg i. Br. 1996, 840 p. - Kinzig, Jörg: Systems and Developments of Penal Sanctions in Western and Central Europe – How to deal with Dangerous Offenders. In: Albrecht, H.-J./Irk, F. (ed(s).): The Third German-Hungarian Colloquium on Penal Law and Criminology. Systems and Developments of Penal Sanctions in Western and Central Europe. Bíbor Kiadó Miskolc, 2005, p. 19 - 29.