Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T14:24:32.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Religion, Historical Contingencies, and Institutional Conditions of Criminal Punishment: The German Case and Beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Joachim J. Savelsberg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Religion and historical contingencies help explain cross-national and historic variation of criminal law and punishment. Case studies from German history suggest: First, the Calvinist affiliation of early Prussian monarchs advanced the centralization of power, rationalization of government bureaucracy, and elements of the welfare state, factors that are likely to affect punishment. Second, the dominant position of Lutheranism in the German population advanced the institutionalization of a separation of forgiveness in the private sphere versus punishment of “outer behavior” by the state. Third, these principles became secularized in philosophy, jurisprudence, and nineteenth-century criminal codes. Fourth, partly due to historical contingencies, these codes remained in effect into post–World War II Germany. Fifth, the experience of the Nazi regime motivated major changes in criminal law, legal thought, public opinion, and religious ideas about punishment in the Federal Republic of Germany. Religion thus directly and indirectly affects criminal law and punishment, in interaction with historical contingencies, institutional conditions of the state, and other structural factors.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , Spring 2004 , pp. 373 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2004 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adomo, Theodor W., Else-Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel J. Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford, R. 1950. The Authoritarian Personality. New York: Harper and Brothers.Google Scholar
Anselm, Reiner. 1994. Juengstes Gericht und irdische Gerechtigkeit: Protestantische Ethik und die deutsche Strafrechtsreform. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.Google Scholar
Arendt, Hannah. 1961. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Cleveland: World.Google Scholar
Barth, Karl. 1939. The Church and the Political Problem of Our Day. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.Google Scholar
Berman, Harold. 2001. Foreword to Christian Perspectives on Legal Thought , ed. McConnell, Michael W., Cochran, Robert F. Jr., and Carmella, Angela C. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Boehm, Alexander. 2001. Strafvollzug. In Mueller 2001, 32:225–33.Google Scholar
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. [1935] 1960. Vergegenwaertigung neutestamentarischer Texte. In Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Gesammelte Schriften. Vol. 3, herausgegeben von Bethge, Eberhard. Muenchen: Chr. Kaiser Verlag.Google Scholar
Brustein, William. 1996. The Logic of Evil. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Bureau of Justice Statistics. 1998. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. Washington, D.C.: Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2000. Capital Punishment 1999. Washington, D.C.: Department of Justice.Google Scholar
EMNID. 1988. EMNID-Informationen 40/7:17–18.Google Scholar
Erikson, Kai T. 1966. Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Esping-Anderson, Goesta. 1988. The Three Political Economies of the Welfare State. San Domenico, Italy: European University Institute.Google Scholar
Evans, Richard J. 1996. Rituals of Retribution: Capital Punishment in Germany, 1600–1987. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Feuerbach, Paul Johann Anselm. [1799] 1966. Revision der Grundsaetze und Grundbegriffe des positiven peinlichen Rechts. Aalen, Germany: Scientia.Google Scholar
1812. Lehrbuch des gemeinen in Deutschland gueltigen peinlichen Rechts. Giessen, Germany: G. F. Heyes.Google Scholar
Fontane, Theodor. [1864] 1997. Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg. Vol. 1. Koeln, Germany: Koenemann.Google Scholar
Garland, David. 1990. Punishment and Modem Society: A Study in Social Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Garland, David. 2001. The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Gerhards, Juergen, ed. 2000. Die Vermessung kultureller Unterschiede: USA und Deutschland im Vergleich. Wiesbaden, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.Google Scholar
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. 1996. Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Gorski, Philip S. 1993. The Protestant Ethic Revisited: Disciplinary Revolution and State Formation in Holland and Prussia. American Journal of Sociology 99:265–316.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., Bursik, Robert J. Jr., and Sims Blackwell, Brenda. 1993a. Religious Beliefs and Public Support for the Death Penalty for Juveniles and Adults. Journal of Crime and Justice 6:59–86.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., Cochran, John K., Bursik, Robert J. Jr., and Kimpel, M'Lou. 1993b. Religion, Punitive Justice, and Support for the Death Penalty. Justice Quarterly 10:289–314.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., Davenport, E., Chamblin, M. B., and Bursik, Robert J. Jr. 1992a. Protestant Fundamentalism and the Retributivist Doctrine of Punishment. Criminology 30:21–45.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., and McGill, Anne L. 1994. Religion, Attribution Style, and Punitiveness toward Juvenile Offenders. Criminology 32:23–46.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., Morgen, C. S., and Kennedy, M. B. 1992b. Support for Corporal Punishment in the Schools: A Comparison of the Effects of Socio-Economic Status and Religion. Social Science Quarterly 73:177–87.Google Scholar
Greenberg, David F., and Humphries, Drew. 1980. The Cooptation of Fixed Sentencing Reform. Crime and Delinquency 26:206–25.Google Scholar
Greenberg, David F., and West, Valerie. 2001. Growth of State Prison Populations, 1971–1991. Criminology 39:615–654.Google Scholar
Gregory, Brad S. 1999. Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Greven, Philip. 1991. Spare the Child: The Religious Roots of Punishment and the Psychological Impact of Physical Abuse. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Jacobs, David, and Carmichael, Jason T. 2001. The Politics of Punishment across Time and Space: A Pooled Time-Series Analysis of Imprisonment Rates. Social Forces 80:61–89.Google Scholar
Jacobs, David, and Carmichael, Jason T. 2002. The Political Sociology of the Death Penalty: A Pooled Time-Series Analysis American Sociological Review 67:109–31.Google Scholar
Jacobs, David, and Helms, Ronald E. 1996. Toward a Political Model of Incarceration: A Time-Series Examination of Multiple Explanations for Prison Admission Rates. American Journal of Sociology 101:323–57.Google Scholar
Johannsen, Friedrich. 2001. Strafe, Praktisch-theologisch. In Mueller 2001.Google Scholar
Kalberg, Stephen. 1987a. The Origins and Expansion of Kulturpessimismus. Sociological Theory 5:150–64.Google Scholar
Kalberg, Stephen. 1987b. West German and American Interaction Forms: One Level of Structured Misunderstanding. Theory, Culture, and Society 4:603–18.Google Scholar
Kalberg, Stephen. 1994. Max Weber's Comparative-Historical Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. [1797] 1997. Metaphysik der Sitten, ed. Weischedel, Wilhelm. Frankfurt: Sahrkamp.Google Scholar
Katzenstein, Peter J. 1987. Policy and Politics in West Germany: The Growth of a Semisovereign State. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Kirchenamt der Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland. 1990. Strafe: Tor zur Versoehnung? Eine Denkschrift der Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland zum Strafvollzug. Guetersloh, Germany: Guetersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn.Google Scholar
Knoke, David, and Urban Pappi, Franz. 1991. Organizational Action Sets in the U.S. and German Labor Policy Domains. American Sociological Rev. 56:509–23.Google Scholar
Kock, Manfred. 1999. Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland. Press release of 18 June.Google Scholar
Krisberg, Barry. 1991. Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Sociologist Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 82:141–55.Google Scholar
LaFree, Gary. 2002. Too Much Democracy or Too Much Crime? Lessons from California's Three Strikes Law. Law & Social Inquiry 27:875–902.Google Scholar
Leaver, Robin A. 1997. Music and Lutheranism. In The Cambridge Compendium to Bach, ed. Butt, John. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour M. 1981. Political Man. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. [1520] 1915. A Treatise on Christian Liberty. In Works of Martin Luther, 2:312–48. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. [1525] 1931a. Works of Martin Luther, ed. Jacobs, Henry Egster and Spaeth, Adolph. 6 vols. Philadelphia: A. J. Holman and Castle Press.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. [1525] 1931b. An Admonition to Peace: A Reply to the Twelve Articles of the Peasants in Swabia. In Luther [1525] 1931a, 4:219–44.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. [1525] 1931c. Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants. In Luther [1525] 1931a, 4:248–58.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. [1925] 1931d. An Open Letter Concerning the Hard Book against the Peasants. In Luther [1525] 1931a, 4:259–81.Google Scholar
Megivern, James J. 1997. The Death Penalty: An Historical and Theological Survey. New York: Paulist Press.Google Scholar
Melossi, Dario. 2001. The Cultural Embeddedness of Social Control: Reflections on the Comparison of Italian and North American Cultures Concerning Punishment. Theoretical Criminology 5:403–24.Google Scholar
Mueller, Gerhard, ed. 2001. Theologische Realenzyklopaedie, vol. 32. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Muench, Richard. 2000. Politische Kultur, Demokratie und politische Regulierung: Deutschland und USA im Vergleich. In Gerhards 2000.Google Scholar
Myers, Martha A. 1988. Social Background and Sentencing Behavior of Judges. Criminology 26:649–75.Google Scholar
Nauke, Wolfgang. N.d. Christliche, aufklaererische und wissenschaftstheoretische Begruendung des Strafrechts (Luther–Beccaria–Kant). In Christentum, Saekularisation, und modernes Recht, ed. Vallauri, Luigi Lombardi and Dilcher, Gerhard. Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos.Google Scholar
Niemoeller, Martin, and Bonhoeffer, Dietrich.[1933] 1959. Erklaerung. In Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Gesammelte Schriften. Vol. 2, herausgegeben von Bethge, Eberhard. Muenchen: Chr. Kaiser Verlag.Google Scholar
Pahud de Mortanges, Rene. 2001. Strafen, Kirchliche. In Mueller 2001, 32:222–25.Google Scholar
Reuband, Karl-Heinz. 1980. Sanktionsverlangen im Wandel. Die Einstellung zur Todesstrafe in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland seit 1950. Koelner Zeitschrift fuer Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 32:535–58.Google Scholar
Roller, Edeltraud. 2000. Marktwirtschaftliche und wohlfahrtsstaatliche Gerechtigkeit-sprinzipien in Deutschland und in den USA. In Gerhards 2000.Google Scholar
Roth, Guenther. 1987. Politische Herrschaft und persoenliche Freiheit. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Salamon, Lester M., and Anheier, Helmut. 1998. The Third Route: Government Nonprofit Collaboration in Germany and the United States. In Private Action and Public Good, ed. Powell, Walter W. and Clemens, Elizabeth S. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Savelsberg, Joachim J. 1992. Law That Does Not Fit Society: Sentencing Guidelines as a Neo-classical Reaction to the Dilemmas of Substantivized Law. American Journal of Sociology 97:1346–81.Google Scholar
Savelsberg, Joachim J. 1994. Knowledge, Domination, and Criminal Punishment. American Journal of Sociology 99:911–43.Google Scholar
Savelsberg, Joachim J. 1999. Knowledge, Domination and Criminal Punishment Revisited: Incorporating State-Socialism. Punishment and Society 1:45–70.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Eberhard. 1983. Einfuehrung in die Geschichte der deutschen Strafrechtspflege. Goettingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck and Ruprcht.Google Scholar
Spitzer, Steven. 1975. Punishment and Social Organization: A Study of Durkheim's Theory of Penal Evolution. Law and Society Review 9:613–37.Google Scholar
Sorensen, Aage B. 1997. On Kings, Pietism and Rent-seeking in Scandinavian Welfare States. Acta Sociologica 41:363–75.Google Scholar
Sutton, John. 2000. Imprisonment and Social Classification in Five Common Law Countries. American Journal of Sociology 106:350–86.Google Scholar
Track, Joachim. 2001. Strafe, kirchengeschichtlich und theologisch. In Mueller 2001, 32:207–20.Google Scholar
Troeltsch, Ernst. 1912. Die Sozialkhren der christlichen Kirchen und Gruppen. Tuebingen.Google Scholar
Turner, Stephen P., and Factor, Regis A. 1994. Max Weber: The Lawyer as Social Thinker. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tyler, Tom R., and Boeckmann, Robert J. 1997. Three Strikes and You Are Out, but Why? The Psychology of Public Support for Punishing Rule Breakers. Law and Society Review 31:237–65.Google Scholar
Wald, Kenneth D. 1992. Religion and Politics in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. [19045] 2002. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, with new introduction and tanslation by Stephen Kalberg. Los Angeles: Roxbury.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. [1922] 1963. The Sociology of Religion, trans. Ephraim Fischoff. Boston: Beacon.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Weil, Frederick D. 1987. Cohorts, Regimes, and the Legitimacy of Democracy: West Germany Since 1945. American Sociological Review 52:308–25.Google Scholar
Western, Bruce, and Beckett, Katherine. 1999. How Unregulated Is the US Labor Market? The Penal System as a Labor Market Institution. American Journal of Sociology 104:1030–60.Google Scholar
Wetzell, Richard F. 2000. Inventing the Criminal: A History of German Criminology, 1880–1945. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Young, Robert. 1991. Race, Conceptions of Crime, and Support for the Death Penalty. Social Psychology Quarterly 54:67–75.Google Scholar
Young, Robert. 1992. Religious Orientation, Race, and Support for the Death Penalty. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 31:76–81.Google Scholar