Thomas Feltes

Ruhr University, Bochum, Law Department, Faculty Member

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Travis Linnemann

Kansas State University

Judith Simon

University of Hamburg

Stephen Muecke

University of Notre Dame (Australia)

David Seamon

Kansas State University

Theodore Arabatzis

National & Kapodistrian University of Athens

Sabina Leonelli

University of Exeter

Marian Zulean

University of Bucharest

Miguel Á. Quintanilla Fisac

University of Salamanca

Frank Vanclay

University of Groningen

Ezequiel Gatto

CONICET

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Papers by Thomas Feltes

Policing in Germany: Developments in the Last 20 Years

Handbook on Policing in Central and Eastern Europe, 2013

Akteure der Inneren Sicherheit: Vom Öffentlichen zum Privaten

Auf der Suche nach neuer Sicherheit, 2008

ABSTRACT Folgt man der Website des Bundesinnenministeriums, so umfasst die Innere Sicherheit ein ... more ABSTRACT Folgt man der Website des Bundesinnenministeriums, so umfasst die Innere Sicherheit ein „breites Themenspektrum“ und reicht „von der Kriminalitäts-, Terrorismus- und Extremismusbekämpfung über Verfassungsschutz, Geheim- und Sabotageschutz sowie Bevölkerungsschutz im Krisenfall bis zu Bundespolizei, Waffenrecht oder Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik“ (Bundesministerium des Innern 2006).

Kriminalpolitik

Wörterbuch zur Inneren Sicherheit, 2006

I. Unter „Kriminalpolitik“ wird oftmals Rechtspolitik auf dem Gebiet des Strafrechts und damit di... more I. Unter „Kriminalpolitik“ wird oftmals Rechtspolitik auf dem Gebiet des Strafrechts und damit die Reform des Strafrechts verstanden. Diese enge Auffassung von Kriminalpolitik entspricht aber nicht dem kriminologischen Diskurs. Schon vor über 100 Jahren hatte Franz von Liszt darauf hingewiesen, dass die beste Kriminalpolitik eine gute Sozialpolitik sei. Demzufolge umfasst Kriminalpolitik ressortübergreifende Verbrechensbekämpfung, wobei sich die entsprechenden Aktivitäten nicht nur

Kriminologie

Wörterbuch zur Inneren Sicherheit, 2006

ABSTRACT I. Kriminologie als „Wissenschaft von der Kriminalität“ zu bezeichnen, greift sicherlich... more ABSTRACT I. Kriminologie als „Wissenschaft von der Kriminalität“ zu bezeichnen, greift sicherlich zu kurz. Eine eher klassische Umschreibung bezeichnet sie als interdisziplinäre Wissenschaft von den Ursachen, Erscheinungsformen und Bekämpfungsmöglichkeiten der Kriminalität. Kerner hat Kriminologie bezeichnet als die Wissenschaft von den Entstehungszusammenhängen, Erscheinungsformen, Vorbeugungs- und Bekämpfungsmöglichkeiten, geeigneten Sanktions- und Behandlungsformen des Verbrechens im Leben von Individuen und Gruppen sowie der Kriminalität im Gefüge von Staat und Gesellschaft. Dabei kann und muss man den Begriff der Kriminalität durch den des abweichenden Verhaltens, der Delinquenz oder des sozial schädlichen Verhaltens ersetzen.

Community-oriented policing in Germany: Training and education

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 2002

Presents data from two surveys and arguments in favour of a restructuring of the police service, ... more Presents data from two surveys and arguments in favour of a restructuring of the police service, in general, and police training in particular. Contends that to keep up with an ever-changing world, the police has to become more versatile itself, without losing sight of its core functions: protection and security provision. These objectives can only be achieved by a police force that cooperates intensively with the people, i.e. relies on a community-oriented approach to policing, and one whose members have been provided throughout their training with problem-solving skills and techniques and have developed a high degree of self-motivation. Suggests that in the current social and economic climate there is an urgent need for such reforms, best achieved through international cooperation.

The Long Term Development of Criminal Offenses in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1985 - 2030

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 1987

ABSTRACT Based on a disaggregate Monte Carlo simulation model, we will compute paths of long term... more ABSTRACT Based on a disaggregate Monte Carlo simulation model, we will compute paths of long term development of criminal offenses in the Federal Republic of Germany until the year 2030 based upon hypotheses on the long term development of crime. The use of this approach permits us to relate probabilities to different outcomes of the forecasts.

European Terrorism: Decline or Rebirth at the Beginning of the 1990's?

International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 1989

Peacebuilding and Police Reform in the New Europe: Lessons from Kosovo

sipr.ac.uk

Police Reform in countries in transition is closely connected to peacekeeping and peacebuilding. ... more Police Reform in countries in transition is closely connected to peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The article discusses successes and failures, and the role of police, using Kosovo as an example. It is essential to know whether strategies, structures, and methods of military and police interventions are working, and we need to know whether the reform of administration, police and judiciary in the aftermath of an international intervention are sustainable. As peace and justice go together, the role of police reform in the context of the reform of the judiciary is discussed. There is an open clash between the mainstream international understanding of what a "just society" or a society, functioning under the "rule of law" is (or should) be on one side, and the local understanding of the members of a society, who survived different kinds of suppression and war over years or centuries, often by building up their own informal structures and their own rules of living together. In Kosovo, nine years of a UN international protectorate has achieved remarkably little. The country is called "UNMIKI-STAN", and one may find quotes like "We came, saw and failed" (Zaremba 2007), referring to those who came as experts for UN, OSCE, EU or NGO´s. One reason for the failure is, that neither the military (KFOR), nor the international police force (UN-MIK CIVPOL) or the UN-administration have been prepared in a proper way for their mission, resulting in disadvantages and bad examples for locals. The organization of administration, as the organization of the reform of public institutions and judiciary in Kosovo was lacking basic social and ethnographic knowledge of the country and the Kosovo society. This resulted in at least partly practising "peacekeeping as tourism" (Sion 2008) and spending more money for international experts and administration than for supporting the country. In 2008, more than nine years after the UN took over responsibility for the country, the legal system is still not working properly and the country is in a disastrous social and economic situation. Huge, ineffective reconstruction programs and a body of neo-colonial administrators become the focus of local resentment. 53 separate national police units were under UN-umbrella at the beginning practising their own brand of law and order, while at the same time preaching the gospel of universal standards. Police officers or civil workers, arriving in Kosovo with very best intentions, often got frustrated by the burden of UN-or OSCEadministration. Others came to Kosovo as "mission addicts", spending more time in "networking" and organizing their next mission than taking care of their official and well paid task. Missing cooperation within the international organizations and between these organizations and NGO´s resulted in mismanagement and structures of keeping the own organization running while paying no attention to the work of others. To reform public institutions demands more than flying in internationals and imposing new laws or regulations. Civilizing security in a country in transition also needs a strong theoretical background. By using Clifford Shearing´s idea of "Nodal Security", try 5 . Nevertheless, as UN-Resolution 1244 is (in summer 2008) still valid: Kosovo is not a state in terms of the international or public state law.

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BUILDING PEACE AND JUSTICE IN COUNTRIES IN TRANSITION

criminology.uct.ac.za

... step, the LDK appeared on the scene in 1989. It was led by Ibrahim Rugova (who later became t... more

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Researching the use of force: the background to the international project

by Otto Adang, Maki Haberfeld, and Thomas Feltes

Crime Law and Social Change, 2009

This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police th... more This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police that was carried out in seven countries. Force is often considered to be the defining characteristic of policing and much research has been conducted on the determinants, prevalence and control of the use of force, particularly in the United States. However, little work has looked at police officers’ own views on the use of force, in particular the way in which they justify it. Using a hypothetical encounter developed for this project, researchers in each country conducted focus groups with police officers in which they were encouraged to talk about the use of force. The results show interesting similarities and differences across countries and demonstrate the value of using this kind of research focus and methodology.

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Singing the same tune? International continuities and discontinuities in how police talk about using force

by Otto Adang, Christopher Birkbeck, Philip Stenning, and Thomas Feltes

Crime Law and Social Change, 2009

This article focuses on a research project conducted in six jurisdictions: England, The Netherlan... more This article focuses on a research project conducted in six jurisdictions: England, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Venezuela, and Brazil. These societies are very different ethnically, socially, politically, economically, historically and have wildly different levels of crime. Their policing arrangements also differ significantly: how they are organised; how their officers are equipped and trained; what routine operating procedures they employ; whether they are armed; and much else besides. Most relevant for this research, they represent policing systems with wildly different levels of police shootings, Police in the two Latin American countries represented here have a justified reputation for the frequency with which they shoot people, whereas at the other extreme the police in England do not routinely carry firearms and rarely shoot anyone. To probe whether these differences are reflected in the way that officers talk about the use of force, police officers in these different jurisdictions were invited to discuss in focus groups a scenario in which police are thwarted in their attempt to arrest two youths (one of whom is a known local criminal) by the youths driving off with the police in pursuit, and concludes with the youths crashing their car and escaping in apparent possession of a gun, It might be expected that focus groups would prove starkly different, and indeed they were, but not in the way that might be expected. There was little difference in affirmation of normative and legal standards regarding the use of force. It was in how officers in different jurisdictions envisaged the circumstances in which the scenario took place that led Latin American officers to anticipate that they would shoot the suspects, whereas officers in the other jurisdictions had little expectation that they would open fire in the conditions as they imagined them to be.

Multicultural Context, Crime, and Policing in Germany: Challenges After Unification

... Sept. 16-17: A 31-year-old Tunisian and a 24-year-old Libyan are injured in a fight between a... more

Wissenschaft und Innere Sicherheit

by Thomas Feltes and Helge Peters

Auf der Suche nach neuer Sicherheit, 2008

... zB Groenemeyer 2003b, Kury 2006, Roberts/ Stalans 1997, Roberts et al. 2003). Hierbei geht es... more

Vernetzung als neuer Effektivitätsmythos für die innere Sicherheit

Von der Pathogenie des Strafvollzugs

Auf der Suche nach neuer Sicherheit, 2008

Der beste Strafvollzug, so glauben die meisten Politiker und wohl auch viele Praktiker, ist der, ... more

Torn between two targets: German police officers talk about the use of force

by Thomas Feltes and Astrid Klukkert

Crime, Law and Social Change, 2009

Considering earlier research into police use of force as well as the judicial and practical frame... more Considering earlier research into police use of force as well as the judicial and practical frame of police work in Germany, the article presents the results of an empirical study on the individual and collective legitimization of the use of force by German police officers. There are numerous justifications for the use of force expressed by focus group participants in eight German Federal States who were responding to a hypothesized scenario. In the discussions observed within the groups, reference is first made to the state's duty to prosecute alleged offences and the measures or formal actions to do this-hence, the legal authority to use force. In the course of the discussions, however, it became obvious that illegal violence may occur, although it was not perceived as such by the officers. Overall, and after an intensive analysis of the focus group discussions, it can be stated that use of force (whether legal or not) depends on the police officer's perception of the resistance of the person being engaged with. In this regard, different social-cultural or physicalmaterial factors can be identified. They have different influences on the individual legitimization of police actions, intertwined with the perception of the situation as constructed by the officer. Three ways of perceiving the situation can be deduced, resulting in different patterns of justification for the use of force.

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Researching the use of force: the background to the international project

by Otto Adang, Thomas Feltes, and Maki Haberfeld

Crime, Law and Social Change, 2009

This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police th... more This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police that was carried out in seven countries. Force is often considered to be the defining characteristic of policing and much research has been conducted on the determinants, prevalence and control of the use of force, particularly in the United States. However, little work has looked at police officers' own views on the use of force, in particular the way in which they justify it. Using a hypothetical encounter developed for this project, researchers in each country conducted focus groups with police officers in which they were encouraged to talk about the use of Crime Law Soc Change (2009) 52:95-110

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Singing the same tune? International continuities and discontinuities in how police talk about using force

by Thomas Feltes and Otto Adang

Crime, Law and Social Change, 2009

Abstract This article focuses on a research project conducted in six jurisdictions: England, The ... more

Policing in Germany: Developments in the Last 20 Years

Handbook on Policing in Central and Eastern Europe, 2013

Akteure der Inneren Sicherheit: Vom Öffentlichen zum Privaten

Auf der Suche nach neuer Sicherheit, 2008

Kriminalpolitik

Wörterbuch zur Inneren Sicherheit, 2006

Kriminologie

Wörterbuch zur Inneren Sicherheit, 2006

Community-oriented policing in Germany: Training and education

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 2002

The Long Term Development of Criminal Offenses in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1985 - 2030

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 1987

European Terrorism: Decline or Rebirth at the Beginning of the 1990's?

International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 1989

Peacebuilding and Police Reform in the New Europe: Lessons from Kosovo

sipr.ac.uk

Download

BUILDING PEACE AND JUSTICE IN COUNTRIES IN TRANSITION

criminology.uct.ac.za

... step, the LDK appeared on the scene in 1989. It was led by Ibrahim Rugova (who later became t... more

Download

Researching the use of force: the background to the international project

by Otto Adang, Maki Haberfeld, and Thomas Feltes

Crime Law and Social Change, 2009

Download

Singing the same tune? International continuities and discontinuities in how police talk about using force

by Otto Adang, Christopher Birkbeck, Philip Stenning, and Thomas Feltes

Crime Law and Social Change, 2009

Multicultural Context, Crime, and Policing in Germany: Challenges After Unification

... Sept. 16-17: A 31-year-old Tunisian and a 24-year-old Libyan are injured in a fight between a... more

Wissenschaft und Innere Sicherheit

by Thomas Feltes and Helge Peters

Auf der Suche nach neuer Sicherheit, 2008

... zB Groenemeyer 2003b, Kury 2006, Roberts/ Stalans 1997, Roberts et al. 2003). Hierbei geht es... more

Vernetzung als neuer Effektivitätsmythos für die innere Sicherheit

Von der Pathogenie des Strafvollzugs

Auf der Suche nach neuer Sicherheit, 2008

Der beste Strafvollzug, so glauben die meisten Politiker und wohl auch viele Praktiker, ist der, ... more

Torn between two targets: German police officers talk about the use of force

by Thomas Feltes and Astrid Klukkert

Crime, Law and Social Change, 2009

Download

Researching the use of force: the background to the international project

by Otto Adang, Thomas Feltes, and Maki Haberfeld

Crime, Law and Social Change, 2009

This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police th... more This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police that was carried out in seven countries. Force is often considered to be the defining characteristic of policing and much research has been conducted on the determinants, prevalence and control of the use of force, particularly in the United States. However, little work has looked at police officers' own views on the use of force, in particular the way in which they justify it. Using a hypothetical encounter developed for this project, researchers in each country conducted focus groups with police officers in which they were encouraged to talk about the use of Crime Law Soc Change (2009) 52:95-110

Download

Singing the same tune? International continuities and discontinuities in how police talk about using force

by Thomas Feltes and Otto Adang

Crime, Law and Social Change, 2009

Abstract This article focuses on a research project conducted in six jurisdictions: England, The ... more

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