Mobilisierung des Rechts

‘There should be no open doors in the police’: criminal investigations in northern Ghana as boundary work

“…The other cases are closed, settled, or – the majority – still pending 13 . These statistics are not specific to Ghana; Blankenburg (1995: 9) gives a similar figure of 10% for the German legal system. Though similar in scope, the way suspects avoid being brought to court differs (Bierschenk 2008: 119).…”

“…The selection of the organisation to deal with the criminal occurrence depends on availability, perceived chance of success, and costs (Baker 2004: 206). Only a fraction of potentially criminal occurrences are reported to the police, yet this phenomenon is not exclusive to northern Ghana, but is recognised worldwide in legal sociology (Blankenburg 1995: 13). The reporting of a case marks the beginning of a series of interactions over the course of the criminal investigation:In the late evening, Counter NCO Boateng and the station orderly sat behind the counter in the charge office.…”

Deterred from going to court? A survey at German schools on media influences

“…The readiness of citizens to use the law in cases of conflict forms one of the major topics within the sociology of law (Blankenburg 1995). The inclination to mobilise the law expresses among other things society"s trust in the law and its organs.…”

Law's Knowledge and Law's Effectiveness: Reflections from Legal Sociology and Legal Theory

“…Further fields that demand a more concentrated investigation into their transnational dimension between the local and the global are employment and corporate law as well as the connection between these mostly isolated discourses. 94 With regard to 'practical legal questions' 95 or to the neverending need to justify interdisciplinary 96 and methodological inquiry into legal doctrine 97 , it is obvious that there is much that legal sociology and theory have to offer. That legal sociology is 'in a crisis' 98 might thus be somewhat exaggerated.…”