Our crime scene ...
...the criminal sciences are interdisciplinary...
The criminal sciences unite all those sciences that deal with crime or can be used for the purpose of establishing the truth. They combine both legal and non-legal research areas, which is why their research subjects touch on a number of non-legal research areas in addition to law, such as criminalistics and criminology, as well as the relevant forensic sciences. Prominent specialist areas here are forensic medicine, forensic psychiatry, forensic chemistry, forensic psychology, as well as the arts, economics and technical sciences. In individual cases, forensic science can incorporate know-how from a wide variety of fields (some of which have not yet been explored in a forensic context) in the humanities, social sciences, economics or natural sciences. This broad, interdisciplinary field of research is unique.
The criminal sciences and their interdisciplinary character are particularly evident in the judicial processing of (allegedly) criminal acts. This is particularly the case in the form of expert evidence. Cooperation between the criminal investigation department, the public prosecutor's office and the court with experts from a wide range of scientific disciplines is part of everyday life for law enforcement agencies and appears to be becoming increasingly important due to various factors (increasing complexity of the facts, scientific (especially technological) advances in the field of crime investigation, etc.).
The interdisciplinary criminal sciences not only serve the further development of the individual legal and non-legal sciences, but also the development of innovative solutions through the interdisciplinary examination of crime-related issues. Both expert evidence and criminal prosecution as such benefit from this in terms of quality and efficiency. Its interface character and the resulting successful interdisciplinary and interlocking communication play a central role here.
Past events
Criminalistics Symposium 2022: Tracks into the future
24.11.2022 13:00
Auditorium of the University of Graz
As part of the event "Criminalistics Symposium 2022: Traces into the Future", representatives from science and practice gave lectures on topics related to criminalistics education, training and research and discussed them together with participants from science and practice. Starting with the history of forensic science, the discussion ranged from the status quo in education, training and science to reflections on the future of forensic science and its opportunities and challenges. Although the Graz criminal scientist Hans Gross laid the foundations for scientifically sound criminalistics at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Graz over 100 years ago, criminalistics has been pushed further and further into the background in recent decades. The newly founded Hans Gross Center for Interdisciplinary Criminal Sciences (ZiK), together with the Austrian Criminal Investigation Service Association (VKÖ), now wants to bring criminalistics back to the fore in practice, teaching and research. The symposium provided the initial impetus for cooperative training and further education programs as well as research projects and networked practice with science across disciplines.
The forensic paradigm in criminology
21.10.2021 17:30 - 19:30
Meeting room SZ 15.21, Universitätsstraße 15 building A, 2nd floor
In contemporary criminology, the administration of criminal justice is seen almost exclusively as an object that is viewed from the outside. Criminal proceedings and the legal consequences of criminal law are critically examined from the point of view of effectiveness and equal treatment. Criminological expertise should therefore contribute to the optimization of criminal justice policy. However, the fact that criminology itself could also play an important role within the administration of criminal justice in decisions in individual, specific cases has largely been forgotten today, unlike in the early days of the discipline (Hans Groß; Franz von Liszt). The lecture aims to counterbalance this, as is the intention of the newly founded Hans Gross Center for Interdisciplinary Criminal Sciences (ZiK) at the University of Graz.
True Crime Tuesday
You can find all past events from our series on the "True Crime Tuesday" website
