Professorship of the Cluster of the Excellence – Criminal and Criminal Procedure Law, International and European Criminal Law, Comparative Law and Legal Theory (Prof. Dr. Christoph Burchard)

The inclusive title of the professorship, which was established in mid-2015, reflects its broad orientation in research and teaching alike. The professorship covers German criminal and criminal procedure law, including white collar crime and the constitutionalization of criminal justice, as well as the internationalization and Europeanization of criminal justice. Comparative criminal justice and legal theory provide the specific background for reflection in all of these areas.

The interdisciplinarity of the research and teaching conducted by the professorship in accordance with the program of the Cluster is exhibited by the bridges to other legal disciplines (as reflected in the generic concept of “constitutional criminal law” coined by the holder of the chair), to political science and to political philosophy (take, for example, the Cluster research project on the normative openness of international criminal justice). The internationalization and Europeanization of criminal justice provides a wealth of evidence for the emergence of new normative orders (if one thinks of international criminal law proper) as well as for the transformation of existing normative orders (for example, judicial cooperation in criminal cases, which in Europe is currently developing into a network administration of criminal justice). These processes are studied in the light of the underlying research program of the Cluster, with particular attention being paid, in connection with Research Area 3, to the inter- and intra-jurisdictional competition between different normative conceptions of order.

The focus with regard to German national criminal law is on the profound changes which the criminal justice system is undergoing – often under the influence of international or European developments. For example, commercial and corporate criminal law is being transformed into a “normal” regulatory instrument of social control and the rationalities governing its constitutionalization are preparing the ground for the (democratic) politicization of criminal justice. Another major focus is on judicial cooperation in criminal matters, in particular the attendant processes of supranationalization (such as the forthcoming establishment of a European public prosecutor’s office) and privatization (such as the dependence of national investigators and prosecutors on cooperation with private Internet service providers). To this must be added, when it comes to theoretical foundations, the focus of the chair on comparative law and legal theory, informed at the level of scientific methodology by epistemological and theoretical pluralism.

The most important publications of this professorship of the Cluster of Excellence:

Burchard, Christoph: „Strafverfassungsrecht: Vorüberlegungen zu einem Schlüsselbegriff“, in: Tiedemann/Sieber/Satzger/Burchard/Brodowski (eds.), Die Verfassung moderner Strafrechtspflege – Erinnerung an Joachim Vogel, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2016, pp. 27-61.

Burchard, Christoph: „Commentary on Art. 27 Rome Statute (Irrelevance of official capacity)”; “on Art. 71 Rome Statute (Sanctions for misconduct before the Court)”, in: Triffterer & Ambos (eds.), The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court - A Commentary, München/Oxford: Beck/Hart, 2016, pp. 1037-1055, pp. 1760-1774.

Burchard, Christoph: „Kommentierung von § 13 StGB (Unterlassen)“, in: Leitner & Rosenau (eds.): Wirtschafts- und Steuerstrafrecht, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2017, S. 1047-1066.

Burchard, Christoph: „Kommentierung von Vor § 1 IRG (Gesetz über Internationale Rechtshilfe in Strafsachen)“, in: Grützner/Pötz/Kreß (ed.), C.F. Müller, forthcoming 2017, ca. 300 pp.

Burchard, Christoph: “Judicial Dialogue in Light of Comparative Criminal Law and Justice”, in: P. Lobba & T. Mariniello (eds.), Judicial Dialogue on Human Rights: The Practice of International Criminal Tribunals, Brill|Nijhoff, 2017, forthcoming 2017.

The most important events of this professorship of the Cluster of Excellence:

AK Europäisches Strafrecht, Co-Initiator and organizer of the first workshop, June 23-24 2016, Frankfurt a.M.; Co-Initiator and organizer of the second workshop, April 27-28 2017, Zurich.

International Lecture Series „Strafrechtspflege zwischen Purismus und Pluralität“, Cluster of Excellence „The Formation of Normative Orders“, Summer Term 2017, Frankfurt a.M., Organizer.

Workshop „Normative Orders of the Digital“, Co-Organizer, first workshop of the research group „Internet und Gesellschaft”, Cluster of Excellence „The Formation of Normative Orders“, July 6-7 2017, Frankfurt a.M.

Workshop on Comparative Constitutional Criminal Justice, Organizer, scheduled for July 10 2017, Frankfurt a.M.

Interdisciplinary Seminar „Nationale Widerstände gegen die Internationalisierung des Strafrechts“, in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Jens Steffek (TU Darmstadt; Principal Investigator of the Cluster of Excellence „The Formation of Normative Orders“), scheduled for winter term 2017/