Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Jörg Albrecht is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg/Germany, as well as an honorary professor and faculty member at the law faculty of the University of Freiburg. He is a guest professor at the Center for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the China University of Political Science and Law and at the law faculties of Hainan University, Renmin University, Wuhan University, Beijing Normal University, and Dalian Ocean University.

Academic Background:

Born in 1950 in Esslingen, Germany, Prof. Albrecht studied at the University of Tübingen and later at the University of Freiburg, where he was awarded his doctorate in 1979. In 1991, Prof. Albrecht completed his post-doctoral lecturing qualification with a Habilitation on criminal law, juvenile criminal law, criminology, and prison law. Between 1977 and 1991, Prof. Albrecht worked as a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg. In 1991, he accepted an offer to lecture criminal law and criminology at the University of Konstanz. In 1993, he ascended to the Chair for Criminal Law, Juvenile Criminal Law, and Criminology at the University of Dresden, a position which he held until 1997 when he returned to the Institute. In 1997, Prof. Albrecht was appointed director at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Germany. In addition to his position at the Institute, he also lectures on criminal law, criminal justice, and criminology at the University of Freiburg.
In recent years, Prof. Albrecht has been awarded the status of guest professor at a number of foreign universities and leading academic research centers including the Center for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the China University of Political Science and Law (2000 + 2008) and the law faculties of Hainan University (2001), Renmin University (2004), Wuhan University (2005), Beijing Normal University (2006), and Dalian Ocean University (2012).
In 2003, he was bestowed the honor of a life membership at Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge, and in 2004 he accepted a UT-professorship and received permanent faculty membership at the Law Faculty of Qom Higher Education Center, University of Teheran. In 2005, Prof. Albrecht was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Pécs, Hungary. In May 2010, Prof. Albrecht was made an honorary member of the Hungarian Society of Criminology for his activities in the development of Hungarian criminology and criminal policy. In September 2010, he was appointed as an honorary member to the Serbian Society of Criminology (SCS). Prof. Albrecht was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Grigol Robakidze University in Tbilisi in May 2012.

Prof. Albrecht is the spokesperson of the International Max Planck Research School on Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment (REMEP).

Prof. Albrecht's research interests span the breadth of modern legal and criminological discourse. His interests range from topics such as sentencing theory, juvenile crime and justice, illegal drug policy, and environmental and organized crime to evaluative research on the role of criminal justice in transitional legal systems. He has authored, co-authored, and edited numerous works, including volumes on sentencing, day-fines, recidivism, child abuse and neglect, drug policies, and victimization.

Prof. Albrecht is co-editor of the following series and journals:

Reports on Research in Criminology of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law,
Monatsschrift für Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform,
Déviance et Société,
European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice,
Recht der Jugend und des Bildungswesens,
Zivile Sicherheit. Schriften zum Fachdialog Sicherheitsforschung, and
Foreign press review of the "Zeitschrift für die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft" (ZStW).

Prof. Albrecht is on the editorial board of the journal F3 – Freedom from Fear and the advisory boards for the journals "Suchttherapie," "International Journal of Policy and Practice," "Police Practice and Research – An International Journal," "Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention," "Revista de Derecho Penal y Criminología," the European Journal of Criminology, "Crime & Justice International," and "Criminology and Criminal Justice." He is rédacteur associé of the journal "Revue internationale de criminologie et de police technique et scientifique."

Prof. Albrecht is a member of the scientific council of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, in Bielefeld, Germany, and a member of the advisory board of the German National Academic Foundation. He is a member of the Centre for Criminology (KrimZ), the Kriminologische Gesellschaft (KrimG), the Groupe Européen de Recherches sur les Normativités (GERN), the European Society of Criminology, the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.