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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Criminal Law and Policy

Criminal Law and Policy is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to the criminal justice system in Germany, including criminal law, prison system, legal reforms, youth offenders, security measures, drug policy, human rights violations, constitutional law, psychiatric evaluation, and corporate criminal liability.

  • Criminal Law
  • Prison System
  • Legal Reforms
  • Youth Offenders
  • Security Measures
  • Drug Policy
  • Human Rights Violations
  • Constitutional Law
  • Psychiatric Evaluation
  • Corporate Criminal Liability
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+9%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Germany
68% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Criminal Law and Policy

Which countries lead Criminal Law and Policy research?

By volume, Germany and Austria publish the most (1.4k and 173 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Germany 1.4k works
  2. 2 Austria 173 works
  3. 3 Türkiye 104 works
  4. 4 United States 92 works
  5. 5 Switzerland 73 works
  6. 6 Poland 73 works
  7. 7 Russia 45 works
  8. 8 China 34 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 32 works
  10. 10 Spain 28 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Germany: 67.6%Austria: 8.6%Türkiye: 5.2%United States: 4.6%6 others listed: 14.1%68%largest
Germany1,365 · 67.6%Austria173 · 8.6%Türkiye104 · 5.2%United States92 · 4.6%6 others listed284 · 14.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Criminal Law and Policy research?

By volume in 2022-now, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München publishes the most Criminal Law and Policy research, followed by Bergmann und Partner Rechtsanwälte and University of Vienna.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 39 works
  2. 2 Bergmann und Partner RechtsanwälteGermany 36 works
  3. 3 University of ViennaAustria 35 works
  4. 4 Heidelberg UniversityGermany 34 works
  5. 5 Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu KielGermany 26 works
  6. 6 München KlinikGermany 25 works
  7. 7 University of MünsterGermany 25 works
  8. 8 Bielefeld UniversityGermany 24 works
  9. 9 Max Planck SocietyGermany 24 works
  10. 10 University of CologneGermany 22 works

Who are the leading researchers in Criminal Law and Policy?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Criminal Law and Policy include Wolfgang K. Huber, Christian Schmitt and Michael Lawrence Klein.

  1. 1 Wolfgang K. Huber Germany 239k citations
  2. 2 Christian Schmitt France 126k citations
  3. 3 Michael Lawrence Klein United States 120k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Criminal Law and Policy?

The most cited paper in Criminal Law and Policy is "?Ein Fall von...?" (Johannes Poigenf�rst, 1966), with 297 citations. Next come "Deaths Caused by Physical Restraints" (250) and "Effective Correctional Treatment" (212).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 ?Ein Fall von...? Johannes Poigenf�rst · Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery 1966 297
2 Deaths Caused by Physical Restraints S. H. Miles, Patrick W. Irvine · The Gerontologist Dec 1992 250
3 Effective Correctional Treatment Margaret A. Jackson · Canadian Journal of Criminology Oct 1981 212
4 Psychopathy and Criminal Responsibility Stephen J. Morse · Neuroethics 9 Jul 2008 175
5 On a Moral Right to Civil Disobedience David Lefkowitz · Ethics 2007 162
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Criminal Law and Policy research done?

The largest centres of Criminal Law and Policy research in 2022-now are Berlin (Germany), Munich (Germany), Vienna (Austria) and Hamburg (Germany). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Hamm and Linz.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BerlinGermany 119 works
  2. 2 MunichGermany 100 works
  3. 3 ViennaAustria 79 works
  4. 4 HamburgGermany 71 works
  5. 5 CologneGermany 61 works
  6. 6 MünsterGermany 43 works
  7. 7 Frankfurt am MainGermany 39 works
  8. 8 HanoverGermany 39 works
  9. 9 HammGermany 37 works
  10. 10 HeidelbergGermany 36 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HammDE · 36.7 works350×
  2. LinzAT · 25.0 works44×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Criminal Law and Policy than the world average.

See Criminal Law and Policy on the map

Where is the best place to study Criminal Law and Policy?

Among universities, judged by research, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, German Police University and Hochschule für Polizei und Öffentliche Verwaltung Nordrhein-Westfalen score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 13.84%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →German Police Univer…Hochschule für Poliz…Ludwig-Maximilians-U…Heidelberg University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität MünchenGermany 71.79.1%22.0×39 +13.5%
2German Police UniversityGermany 66.527.8%871.6×9 +50.3%
3Hochschule für Polizei und Öffentliche Verwaltung Nordrhein-WestfalenGermany 65.527.2%665.5×16 +334.2%
4Heidelberg UniversityGermany 63.13.3%22.2×34 +105.9%
5Goethe University FrankfurtGermany 62.714.9%21.9×20 +72.6%
6University of ViennaAustria 60.33.3%33.8×35 +104.2%
7Bielefeld UniversityGermany 58.48.5%51.0×24 +91.1%
8Johannes Gutenberg University MainzGermany 57.721.9%15.6×12 +114.2%
9University of BonnGermany 57.211.6%18.4×17 +19.5%
10Ruhr University BochumGermany 56.310.8%24.6×20 +8.2%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Criminal Law and Policy, country by country

Is Criminal Law and Policy research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 9% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Criminal Law and Policy.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Criminal Law and Policy as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0090% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Criminal Law and Policy0.0096% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Criminal Law and Policy over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Criminal Law and Policy9.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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