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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The German Research Foundation is funding a project on practices in terrorism trials with 1.2 million euros / Cooperation between the Universities of Bielefeld, Cologne and Marburg
A new research project at the universities of Bielefeld, Cologne and Marburg is currently examining judicial practices in German terrorism trials. The focus here will be on comparative observations of trials in German courts against defendants from the extreme right and jihadist milieus, with researchers also taking media reportage into consideration. The German Research Foundation will provide funding of 1.2 million euros over a period of three years to the project.
The Rector of the University of Cologne, Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee, says: “I congratulate Dr Bögelein and her colleagues from Bielefeld and Marburg on the funding for their research project. It takes a critical look at terrorism trials in Germany against defendants with extreme right-wing and jihadist ideologies. The funding of the project from the field of criminology shows the importance of transdisciplinary research in dealing with current social processes.”
The research team is investigating the links between ideology, identity, interests and knowledge in terrorism proceedings. “Courtrooms are not only places where justice is administered, but also central spaces in which social concepts of terrorism develop and become consolidated,” says Dr Kerstin Eppert, who is leading the sub-project at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at Bielefeld University together with Viktoria Roth.
In the project, among other things, the researchers are investigating the role played by gender, religious and cultural attributions in court proceedings. “Previous studies show that social gender perceptions play a role in the assessment of the involvement of defendants in serious criminal offences – both in court proceedings and in media portrayals,” reports Dr Anja Schmidt-Kleinert, head of the sub-project at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Marburg.
In international comparison, judicial research in Germany is still in its infancy. The researchers participating in the project therefore also hope to gain new insights into social dynamics prevailing within the courtroom. “In particular, how people present themselves in court and the extent to which they show remorse or distance themselves from an ideology is taken into consideration by courts,” says Dr Nicole Bögelein, who is leading the sub-project at the University of Cologne’s Institute of Criminology.
The researchers observe hearings live in courtrooms and analyse the media coverage accompanying proceedings. They perform analysis on three levels: the direct interactions in the courtroom, the generation of legal knowledge and public perception in the media. The project team works using approaches in judicial ethnography and grounded theory. To this end, data is collected from court observations and content analyses of media coverage are performed. This approach allows researchers to develop new theories based on the material.
The project is called ‘Judging terror: German courts as societal spaces of negotiation and knowledge production on far-right and jihadist terrorism’, short title: ‘Judging Terror’, and it will be running from January 2025 to December 2027. The researchers plan to publish the results in national and international academic journals and to present them at specialist conferences. The project teams are also cooperating with the international IN-COURT network, which aims to promote international comparative research.
Media Contact:
Dr Nicole Bögelein
+49 221 470 4357
nicole.boegelein@uni-koeln.de
Dr Kerstin Eppert, Bielefeld University
Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence
+49 521 106 12941
kerstin.eppert@uni-bielefeld.de
Press and Communications Team:
Robert Hahn
+49 221 470 2396
r.hahn@verw.uni-koeln.de
Press Spokesperson: Dr Elisabeth Hoffmann – e.hoffmann@verw.uni-koeln.de
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