Joachim Savelsberg

Narrative

Current research explores the reciprocal relationship between collective memory and law (e.g., article with Ryan King in Annual Review of Law and Social Science 2007). This involves first, consequences of collective memory for the use of law or force by collective actors, including states (example: how do national memories of hate-inspired violence affect contemporary hate crime law? [article, with Ryan King, in American Journal of Sociology 2005]). It involves secondly the shaping of collective memory of atrocities through courts of law and alternative institutions (e.g., the Nuremberg Tribunal, the My Lai trial, truth commissions) (article in Tempo Social). A book, entitled Atrocities, Law and Collective Memory (with Ryan King), is under contract and scheduled for publication in 2010 (New York: Russell Sage Foundation Press). ----- The collective memory theme is related to a broader agenda that seeks to build a link, so far missing, between the literatures on human rights and criminological scholarship. A book, entitled Crime and Human Rights, is under contract and scheduled for publication in February 2010 (London: Sage). ----- A long-standing line of work addresses cross-national and historical variation of criminal punishment. Here the focus is on the role of institutions that produce knowledge about crime and punishment and in which penal decisions are made (state, law, science, religion). These institutions take different shape across nations and thus contribute to different patterns of punishment (see articles in American Journal of Sociology 1994; Punishment and Society 1999; Social Problems 2002; Law and Social Inquiry 2004; Social Forces 2004; Criminology 2004). ----- Previous lines of work include research on white-collar crime legislation (e.g., Constructing White-Collar Crime, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994) and sentencing guidelines (e.g., American Journal of Sociology 1992).