- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Harvard University Press (18 Jun 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0674013174
- ISBN-13: 978-0674013179
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.4 x 3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,533,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Death in the Tiergarten
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Review
This new book is a terrific read. It leads its readers into the lost world of Berlin's courts in the last two and a half decades before World War One.Hett has done a remarkable job bringing to life the social and cultural history of criminal law, courtroom culture, and its popular reception in Wilhelmine Berlin. Throughout, he weaves accounts of specific trials into an analysis of the transformation of the criminal justice system.--Julia Bruggemann "H-Net "
Product Description
From Alexanderplatz, the bustling Berlin square ringed by bleak slums, to Moabit, site of the city's most feared prison, Death in the Tiergarten illuminates the culture of criminal justice in late imperial Germany. In vivid prose, Benjamin Hett examines daily movement through the Berlin criminal courts and the lawyers, judges, jurors, thieves, pimps, and murderers who inhabited this world. Drawing on previously untapped sources, including court records, pamphlet literature, and pulp novels, Hett examines how the law reflected the broader urban culture and politics of a rapidly changing city. In this book, German criminal law looks very different from conventional narratives of a rigid, static system with authoritarian continuities traceable from Bismarck to Hitler. From the murder trial of Anna and Hermann Heinze in 1891 to the surprising treatment of the notorious Captain of Koepenick in 1906, Hett illuminates a transformation in the criminal justice system that unleashed a culture war fought over issues of permissiveness versus discipline, the boundaries of public discussion of crime and sexuality, and the role of gender in the courts. Trained in both the law and history, Hett offers a uniquely valuable perspective on the dynamic intersections of law and society, and presents an impressive new view of early-twentieth-century German history.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A Look at Criminal Justice in Late Wilhelmine Berlin
19 Sep 2005
Format:Hardcover
I found this to be just an extremely interesting and valuable book on a topic that has received relatively little attention in this country. While there has been much speculation on the issue of whether the legal positivism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries facilitated the Nazi co-opting of law, there have been few if any empirical studies in English of how criminal justice operated in Wilhelmine Germany, and Berlin in particular. The focus here is on the culture of the criminal courtroom, and how such influences as interest groups, an aggressive press, juries, the changing role of defense counsel, public opinion, the use of experts, and sociological theories of crime all impacted on the process.
The book is very well structured to lead the reader through vauable background before getting to the heart of the analysis. Hence, such topics as the "free law movement", the German criminal code, the role of the judge, the three stages of a German criminal trial, the power of prosecutors, the quality of defense counsel, and the role of the new mass press are all discussed. One of the most interesting facets of the book (at least to me as a defense counsel) is how tame and even passive the few defense counsel were initially. Professional norms, backed up by the "Honor Courts" ensured that vigorous criminal defense was foreclosed, although this was to change in the early 20th century. This resulted in a particular disability for defendants, since false confessions were so prominent a feature of proceedings at this point.
But, as the author so cogently explains, much was to change in the period immediately prior to Weimar. More use of documents at trial became the norm; police procedures were reformed; mental disability as a defense was developed; expert witnesses began to limit the power of prosecutors, and a more vigorous defense bar emerged. The book examines several trials in detail affording a valuable empirical perspective on the changes infilitrating the criminal trial process.
Professor Hett's research is prodigious, and the extensive notes are extremely useful, though most sources are in German. His command of the material is superb, and, when coupled with his well-constructed discussion, this makes for an extremely valuable resource. An absolutely indispenable source for anyone, beginner or advanced student, interested in this fascinating topic.
The book is very well structured to lead the reader through vauable background before getting to the heart of the analysis. Hence, such topics as the "free law movement", the German criminal code, the role of the judge, the three stages of a German criminal trial, the power of prosecutors, the quality of defense counsel, and the role of the new mass press are all discussed. One of the most interesting facets of the book (at least to me as a defense counsel) is how tame and even passive the few defense counsel were initially. Professional norms, backed up by the "Honor Courts" ensured that vigorous criminal defense was foreclosed, although this was to change in the early 20th century. This resulted in a particular disability for defendants, since false confessions were so prominent a feature of proceedings at this point.
But, as the author so cogently explains, much was to change in the period immediately prior to Weimar. More use of documents at trial became the norm; police procedures were reformed; mental disability as a defense was developed; expert witnesses began to limit the power of prosecutors, and a more vigorous defense bar emerged. The book examines several trials in detail affording a valuable empirical perspective on the changes infilitrating the criminal trial process.
Professor Hett's research is prodigious, and the extensive notes are extremely useful, though most sources are in German. His command of the material is superb, and, when coupled with his well-constructed discussion, this makes for an extremely valuable resource. An absolutely indispenable source for anyone, beginner or advanced student, interested in this fascinating topic.
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