Bernd Dollinger – författare

In recent years, western societies have experienced a fundamental transformation in the way crime is understood and dealt with. Against the backdrop of a current great interest in narratives in criminology, this book draws on a narrative perspective to explore this transformation.

Drawing on data from Germany, the book focuses on changing narratives of youth crime in recent decades and the exact narratives that have been used, abandoned, invented or criticized in order to instil particular understandings of crime and measures to act against it. The author draws upon a wide range of sources, including debates on youth crime in six parliaments from 1970 to 2012; articles on youth crime in four police and six social work journals from 1970 to 2009; and case studies with 15 young defendants who were interviewed before and after their trial and whose trial was observed. In doing so, the author reconstructs narratives over several decades and, overall, reveals a fascinating and multifaceted scope of narratives of youth crime.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of youth crime and justice, as well as criminology, sociology, politics and social work more broadly.

In recent years, western societies have experienced a fundamental transformation in the way crime is understood and dealt with. Against the backdrop of a current great interest in narratives in criminology, this book draws on a narrative perspective to explore this transformation.

Drawing on data from Germany, the book focuses on changing narratives of youth crime in recent decades and the exact narratives that have been used, abandoned, invented or criticized in order to instil particular understandings of crime and measures to act against it. The author draws upon a wide range of sources, including debates on youth crime in six parliaments from 1970 to 2012; articles on youth crime in four police and six social work journals from 1970 to 2009; and case studies with 15 young defendants who were interviewed before and after their trial and whose trial was observed. In doing so, the author reconstructs narratives over several decades and, overall, reveals a fascinating and multifaceted scope of narratives of youth crime.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of youth crime and justice, as well as criminology, sociology, politics and social work more broadly.

This book illustrates the importance of conflicting narratives in understanding and dealing with crime, based on a variety of cutting-edge research. Offenders tell stories about crime and punishment, as do policemen, judges and defence lawyers, but so do politicians and the media. Each tells them very differently and only some stories are believed, while others are rejected as implausible leading to conflict. This book explores how these conflicts are carried out and what relationships exist between (often unquestioned) master narratives and (sometimes loud, sometimes silent) counter-narratives? These are questions of central importance for criminology which have thus far received little attention.

Das ''Lehrbuch Jugendkriminalität'' vermittelt einen Überblick zentraler Aspekte des aktuellen theoretischen und empirischen Wissens zu Jugendkriminalität. Den Ausgangspunkt bildet eine sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektive, indem Jugendkriminalität als diskursive Konstruktion in den Blick genommen wird. An ihr sind verschiedenste Akteure beteiligt (Öffentlichkeit, Polizei, Sozialpädagogen, Politik usw.). Sie folgen oftmals eigenen Einstellungen und Haltungen, die es umso drängender erscheinen lassen, auf vorliegende empirische Befunde zu achten und strittige Punkte zu markieren. Dies erfolgt in dem Lehrbuch, indem besonderes Augenmerk auf den Grundgedanken der „Erziehung“ im Kontext des Jugendstrafrechts gelegt wird. Ferner werden Theorien, Verlaufsformen und die institutionelle bzw. professionelle Bearbeitung von Jugendkriminalität rekonstruiert.

Die Lebensphase „Jugend“ wird häufig mit Defiziten, Störungen und riskanten Verhaltensweisen assoziiert. Besondere mediale und politische Aufmerksamkeit erhalten Jugendliche dann, wenn sie mit strafrechtsrelevantem Verhalten in Erscheinung treten. In diesen publizistisch-politischen Kontexten stoßen kriminologische und sozialpädagogische Befunde und Erkenntnisse häufig auf wenig Interesse. Vor diesem Hintergrund thematisiert das Handbuch zentrale Felder der aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Auseinandersetzung mit jugendlicher Kriminalität. Die aktuelle Auflage wurde hierzu grundlegend neu bearbeitet und umfasst auch jüngere rechtliche Reformen u.a. zum Jugendarrest. Das Handbuch wurde insgesamt thematisch erweitert und berücksichtigt auch internationale Bezüge sowie unterschiedliche theoretische und fachliche Ansatzpunkte. Das Buch schließt deutlicher als bisher an die zunehmende Spezialisierung der Praxis und der Forschung an.