Can’t It Be Both? Criminology as Science and Criminology as Policy

• In Event: Frameworks for Interpreting and Reforming the Law

Abstract

In recent years (German) politicians and legislators have committed themselves to an “evidence-based” approach to legal policy and legislation. The idea is: Criminology and its findings shall guide and govern legal decision-making. However, most criminological scholars have found that in the end these goals are hardly ever put into practice. In fact, they cannot detect a readiness to draw immediate political consequences from criminological findings at all.
This presentation takes a step back to examine the understanding and potential pitfalls of an evidence-based approach to legal policy. Can and should Criminology determine political decision-making? And if so, what is the difference between criminology as science and criminology as policy? The discussion will consider epistemological concepts of value-freedom (Max Weber) and critical rationalism (Karl Popper) as well as the preconditions of democratic discourse and decision-making. The presentation advocates for a concept of evidence-informed but not evidence-governed legal decision making.
The presentation is an elaborated version of my inaugural lecture held at Goettingen University in the summer of 2024. It shall be published in English.

Author

• Alexander Baur, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen