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Jan-Philip Steinmann

Postdoctoral researcher

Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN)

My name is Jan-Philip Steinmann and I am head of the research unit “Aetiology of Deviance” at the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN) and affiliated postdoctoral researcher at the Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC) at the University of Bremen, Germany. I consider myself a sociologist, on the edge of cultural sociology and social structure analysis. My research interests, in the broadest sense, relate to causes and consequences of (decreasing or increasing) social cohesion. Thereby, I mainly focus on social inequalities, migration processes and immigrants’ integration, right-wing populism, and deviant behavior. Across all these topics, I investigate paradoxical effects of religion. Although I am mostly using quantitative empirical methods, I am also conducting mixed methods research.

I hold a doctoral degree from the University of Goettingen, Germany. I have been visiting student/researcher at Utrecht University and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) in The Hague.

My work appeared in several journals including European Journal of Criminology, International Migration Review, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie.

Work in Progress

Das Messer, die Jugend und die Religion. Eine notwendige Differenzierung

Der Beitrag befasst sich mit der aktuell intensiv diskutierten Thematik der Messerkriminalität. Ziel ist es zu beurteilen, inwieweit die mediale Berichterstattung von wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen abweicht, um die Basis für eine evidenzbasierte Kriminalpolitik zu stärken. Dafür werden sowohl Presseberichte als auch bundesweite und niedersächsische Daten aus dem Hell- und Dunkelfeld zur Messerkriminalität systematisch ausgewertet. Im ersten Schritt werden zentrale Erkenntnisse zu messerbezogener Gewalt im Allgemeinen zusammengetragen. Dazu zählen Angaben zum Ausmaß und zur Entwicklung von Messerkriminalität, eine Kontextualisierung der Befunde sowie typische Täter:innen- und Tatcharakteristika messerbezogener Gewalt. Zudem werden Motive für das Mitführen von Messern beleuchtet. Anschließend wird das Thema aus zwei Perspektiven vertieft: Im zweiten Schritt liegt der Fokus auf Messerkriminalität unter Jugendlichen. Dabei werden die jüngsten Entwicklungen messerbezogener Gewalt im Hell- und Dunkelfeld nachgezeichnet sowie mögliche Erklärungsansätze für deren Diskrepanz aufgezeigt. Im dritten Schritt wird der Einfluss von religiöser Zugehörigkeit und Religiosität auf jugendliche Messerkriminalität untersucht. Es wird erörtert, ob Religion einen schützenden oder begünstigenden Faktor für messerbezogene Gewalt unter Jugendlichen darstellt. Insgesamt können die Ergebnisse die Differenzen zwischen medialer Darstellung und wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen verdeutlichten: Die mediale Berichterstattung spiegelt das tatsächliche Ausmaß der Messerkriminalität oft unzureichend wider, die Unterschiede zwischen Hell- und Dunkelfeld in Bezug auf messerbezogene Gewalt unter Jugendlichen bleiben medial weitgehend unbeachtet und die mediale Debatte über den Zusammenhang von Religion und Messerkriminalität wird der Komplexität des Themas nicht gerecht.

Historical roots of contemporary worries about immigrant crime in European societies

Previous cross-national comparison research has mainly considered contemporary forces to explain current public views about immigrants’ impact on crime. We argue that a historically informed perspective can improve our understanding of such views. In our study, we explore how two macro-historical explanatory factors—countries’ varied histories of crimmigration and past geopolitical threat—are related to the perception of immigrants’ impact on crime in European societies today. A country is considered to have a pronounced history of crimmigration when immigration law and criminal law have become increasingly intertwined over time (1980-2014). When a country faces the loss of or a threat to its national sovereignty or territory during or after nation-state formation (19th and 20th centuries), it is deemed to have been geopolitically threatened. Multilevel regression analyses based on the 2002 and 2014 European Social Survey (ESS) data from 21 countries, controlling for individual- and other country-level factors, indicate that current worries about immigrant crime in European societies have historical roots. Current public views about immigrants’ impact on crime are more evident in countries with more severe past geopolitical threat rather than being affected by a country’s history of crimmigration. The findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to research on criminalization of immigrants.

A mixed-methods study on out-group hostility and religiosity among Muslim inmates in German youth prisons: the role of religious discrimination and opportunity structure

This article addresses the perceived religious discrimination and lack of religious opportunity structure among adolescent Muslim inmates and how these religion-related prison experiences affect their out-group hostility. Further, it examines whether the link between these experiences and out-group hostility depends on inmates’ religiosity. Building on general strain theory, religion-related prison experiences are conceptualized as events potentially leading to out-group hostility. The coping literature is used to identify different dimensions of religiosity that can either strengthen or weaken the relationship of interest. Data from German juvenile prisons were analyzed. Qualitative findings (N=22) indicate inmates experience disadvantages in practicing their religion but feel grateful rather than discriminated against. Quantitative results (N=311) show perceived religious discrimination is positively linked to out-group hostility, while lack of religious opportunity structure is not. Religiosity did not moderate the association between perceived religious discrimination and out-group hostility.

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