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Police officers as victims: sentencing standards and their justifications in England and Germany

Police officers as victims: sentencing standards and their justifications in England and Germany
Police officers as victims: sentencing standards and their justifications in England and Germany
While there is plenty research in crime committed by police officers surprisingly little debate can be found regarding the situation where a police officer becomes a victim. This is remarkable as the police not only embody criminal law enforcement but also epitomises State power. Based on a comparative study, this article examines how criminal law in England and Germany deals with attacks against police officers through separate criminal offences as well as increased sentences. The authors examine how the use of criminal law reflects on the State’s perception and valuation of the role of the police officer. It will be shown that while in England there is the clear understanding that the status of the victim as police officer has an aggravating effect, Germany strongly opposes the idea that the office-holder deserves more protection than ordinary citizens. On the contrary, the law takes in consideration that the offender finds him- or herself in a vulnerable situation when faced with the power of the State.
police officers as victims, resistance against law enforcement, sentencing standards, comparison england and germany, mitigating and aggravating circumstances
0022-0183
33-49
Isfen, Osman
2140cec1-67cc-4906-b0ca-7149bba0225b
Rauxloh, Regina
8ce77860-d780-4c02-9d0d-e65f0fd6e988
Isfen, Osman
2140cec1-67cc-4906-b0ca-7149bba0225b
Rauxloh, Regina
8ce77860-d780-4c02-9d0d-e65f0fd6e988

Isfen, Osman and Rauxloh, Regina (2017) Police officers as victims: sentencing standards and their justifications in England and Germany. Journal of Criminal Law, 81 (1), 33-49. (doi:10.1177/0022018316685477).

Record type: Article

Abstract

While there is plenty research in crime committed by police officers surprisingly little debate can be found regarding the situation where a police officer becomes a victim. This is remarkable as the police not only embody criminal law enforcement but also epitomises State power. Based on a comparative study, this article examines how criminal law in England and Germany deals with attacks against police officers through separate criminal offences as well as increased sentences. The authors examine how the use of criminal law reflects on the State’s perception and valuation of the role of the police officer. It will be shown that while in England there is the clear understanding that the status of the victim as police officer has an aggravating effect, Germany strongly opposes the idea that the office-holder deserves more protection than ordinary citizens. On the contrary, the law takes in consideration that the offender finds him- or herself in a vulnerable situation when faced with the power of the State.

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Police Sentencing Police officers as victims - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 27 January 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 February 2017
Published date: February 2017
Keywords: police officers as victims, resistance against law enforcement, sentencing standards, comparison england and germany, mitigating and aggravating circumstances
Organisations: Southampton Law School

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 389756
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/389756
ISSN: 0022-0183
PURE UUID: 12b93505-10b1-429c-aa50-1edf6248519b
ORCID for Regina Rauxloh: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2711-1424

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Date deposited: 14 Mar 2016 14:53
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 23:07

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Contributors

Author: Osman Isfen
Author: Regina Rauxloh ORCID iD

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