Thomas Fischer

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Criminal law determines what is “normal” and what is “deviant,” punishable sexual behavior. But where exactly does that line run? In his new book Sex and Crime (2021), the former presiding judge of the Federal Supreme Court shows that the question of “guilt” and “disease” in criminal sexual law is much more complex than the political and social debate would suggest. For the criminal law definition of rape and abuse, for example, is also a mirror of moral, economic and political power relations.
When does the state have the right to control the intimate sphere? When does it not? Where does sexual criminal law need reform?

Lawyer Thomas Fischer is a former federal judge, author of the popular Die Zeit column “Fischer im Recht” and author of several books, such as On Punishing: Law and Security in Democratic Society (2018).

In the series Smart Sex?