15.12.2023
Journal article

(What remains of) criminal law in the big data surveillance society?

In order to counter a Big Data surveillance society that is to be taken seriously with something substantial in terms of criminal law, a critique of criminal law is required that neither preaches technological solutionism nor glorifies a right of intervention or a classically designed criminal law. It therefore depends on which criminal law is addressed in the key question “What remains of criminal law in a post-digital big data surveillance society?”. Less of the bright side of an idealized and essentialized liberal criminal law and criminal procedural law remains than many might like. And more remains of its dark sides than we should like.

I will develop these theses based on the individual questions of whether we are facing the end of normativity (III. below) and the beginning of the end of initial suspicion (IV. below) in the post-digital big data surveillance society. Before I come to this, the terms mentioned above need to be sharpened. In doing so, I will also emphasize my above theses and outline the structural change in formal social control, which in a big data surveillance society is neither necessarily legally constituted nor based on punishment in the traditional sense (II. below).

News from the research center

Event
19.11.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Unerwünscht. Die westdeutsche Demokratie und die Verfolgten des NS-Regimes

Book Presentation

Der Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum schildert die Erfahrungen von überlebenden Juden und Sinti und Roma, von ehemaligen Zwangsarbeitern und Homosexuellen in Westdeutschland in der Nachkriegszeit.

more information ›
News
04.09.2025

Rainer Forst awarded the Goethe Plakette of the City of Frankfurt am Main

On September 4, 2025, the political philosopher and Director of the Research Centre Normative Orders Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst was awarded the Goethe Plakette of the City of Frankfurt am Main. With this award, the city honors personalities who have set standards far beyond Frankfurt's borders through their academic work and/or their public impact.

more information ›
Event
15.10.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Aufrecht. Überleben im Zeitalter der Extreme

Book Presentation

In ihrem jüngsten Werk begibt sich Lea Ypi auf eine Reise in die Vergangenheit ihrer Familie und verknüpft persönliche Erinnerungen mit den großen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Umbrüchen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Das Forschungszentrum Normative Ordnungen lädt gemeinsam mit dem Netzwerk FrauenmitFormat, dem Honorarkonsulat der Republik Albanien in Frankfurt am Main und dem Suhrkamp Verlag herzlich zur Vorstellung des neuen Buches von Prof. Dr. Lea Ypi mit anschließender Diskussionsrunde mit Prof. Dr. Lea Ypi, Honorarkonsulin Dr. Jonela Hoxhaj und Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst unter der Moderation von Rebecca C. Schmidt ein.

more information ›
Publication
02.09.2025 | Journal article

Beyond Myth Busting: How Engagement with Ethical Dilemmas Can Improve Debates and Policymaking on Migration

Schmid, Lukas; Ruhs, Martin; Bauböck, Rainer; Mourão Permoser, Julia (2025): "Beyond Myth Busting: How Engagement with Ethical Dilemmas Can Improve Debates and Policymaking on Migration". In: Ethics & International Affairs, 39 (1), S. 26-36.

more information ›
Publication
01.09.2025 | Journal article

Roundtable: Ethical Dilemmas and Migration Policymaking

Schmid, Lukas; Ruhs, Martin; Bauböck Rainer, Mourão Permoser, Julia (Hrsg.) (2025): "Roundtable: Ethical Dilemmas and Migration Policymaking". In: Ethics & International Affairs, 39 (1)

more information ›
Publication
21.08.2025 | Anthology

Autoritäre Treiber eines Systemwechsels. Zur Destabilisierung von Institutionen durch die AfD

Frankenberg, Günter; Heitmeyer, Wilhelm (Hrsg.) (2025): Autoritäre Treiber eines Systemwechsels. Zur Destabilisierung von Institutionen durch die AfD. Campus Verlag.

more information ›
News
31.07.2025

Shaping the future - a review

As part of the exhibition "Fixing Futures. Planetary futures between speculation and control", our four-part lecture series "Shaping the future - between climate change, technology and social responsibility" took place.

more information ›
News
30.07.2025

What remains of "1968" - event review

What can we learn from the 1968 movement for our own time and where do we perhaps need new ideas and utopias? The event "Utopia and awakening of the 1968ers - What remains of political rebellion and individual self-liberation" on July 14, 2025 at the Historisches Museum was dedicated to these questions

more information ›
News
10.07.2025

Impressions from the Crisis Talk "Europe in a multipolar world"

The Crisis Talk "Europe in a multipolar world - How can the EU meet the challenges of major powers?" held on July 1, 2025 at the Representation of the State of Hesse to the European Union was dedicated to the question of how the EU should shape its influence and assume its responsibilities in this international environment.

more information ›