Heinz Schöch (born 20 August 1940) is a German

Law professor A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a legal practition ...

and

Criminologist Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

. He is emeritus professor for

Criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

Criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

, Youth law and

sentencing In criminal law, a sentence is the punishment for a crime ordered by a trial court after conviction in a criminal procedure, normally at the conclusion of a trial. A sentence may consist of imprisonment, a fine, or other sanctions. Sentences f ...

Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

Life

Schöch was born in

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

where his family were part of the ethnic German community. The region had been incorporated into the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in June 1940, a couple of months before his birth, as part of the territorial carve-up envisaged in the

non-aggression pact A non-aggression pact or neutrality pact is a treaty between two or more states/countries that includes a promise by the signatories not to engage in military action against each other. Such treaties may be described by other names, such as a t ...

concluded between

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

the previous summer. Following the

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...

of the early 1940s he ended up in the US occupation zone of postwar Germany. In 1959 Schöch successfully concluded his schooling in Bad Cannstatt (Stuttgart). He moved on to undertake a

General Studies North America Some North American universities offer the Bachelor of General Studies degree. England, Wales and Northern Ireland General Studies is a GCSE and former A-level examination offered to 16- to 18-year-olds in England, Wales and North ...

course at in

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

. This was followed by work for his

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Some law degrees are professional degrees that are prerequisites or serve as preparation for legal careers. These generally include the Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Laws, an ...

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. Between 1965 he worked as a research assistant and lecturer at

's , passing Part 1 of the state law exams in 1965 and Part 2 in 1969. He received his doctorate for basic work on sentencing practice and traffic offences (''"Strafzumessungspraxis und Verkehrsdelinquenz"'') in 1972. Between 1974 and 1994 he held a full professorship in

Sentencing In criminal law, a sentence is the punishment for a crime ordered by a trial court after conviction in a criminal procedure, normally at the conclusion of a trial. A sentence may consist of imprisonment, a fine, or other sanctions. Sentences f ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

, also serving as a temporary judge at the city's district court. In 1985/86 he served as dean of the Law Faculty. During his two decades at Göttingen he turned down offers of university posts at

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

(1977) and

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

(1981). In 1994 he accepted an appointment at

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, however, where he succeeded

Horst Schüler-Springorum Horst Schüler-Springorum (15 October 1928 - 5 September 2015) was a German professor of jurisprudence. The focus of his work was on criminal justice. When he died a tribute in the news magazine ''Der Spiegel'' asserted that throughout his dultl ...

As full professor for Criminology, Youth Justice and Sentencing. Between 1996 and 1998 he was sub-dean of the Jurisprudence faculty and a member of the university senate. Between 2001 and 2003 he was Dean of the Jurisprudence faculty and headed up the newly established "Jurisprudence Seminars" department. Heinz Schöch retired from the Munich professorial post on 1 October 2008. In 1979 he was a founder member of the . Between 1994 and 2006 Schöch was a member of the , and between 2001 and 2003 he was president of the . From 2008 he chaired the advisory board of the

Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (German: Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung von Kriminalität, Sicherheit und Recht) is a non-university research institute located in Freiburg, Germany. The institute is part of t ...

, based in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

, having been since 1994 a board member of the victims' support organisation, . Between 2011 and 2015 he was a member of the long-standing "Evaluierungskommission Freiburger Sportmedizin" established to uncover the truth behind allegations of sports-doping. In his letter of resignation from the commission, which was published, he was critical of the commission chairman

Letizia Paoli Letizia Paoli (born 24 October 1966) is a Criminology, criminologist, originally from Prato. Since 2006 she has been a professor of the Law Faculty at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven/Louvain University. She served, between 2009 and 2016, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoch, Heinz 20th-century German jurists 21st-century jurists German criminologists Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1940 births Living people People from Sarata