Franz Exner (criminologist)
Franz Exner | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 August 1881 |
| Died | 1 October 1947 |
| Alma mater | "Schottengymnasium", Vienna University of Vienna Heidelberg University |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer/Jurist Judge Criminologist University professor Author & law journalist |
| Spouse | Marianne von Wieser (1888–1920) |
| Children | 1. Adolf Exner (20 April 1911 – 22 September 1941) 2. Liselotte Exner (29 December 1912 - 2 January 1913) 3. Nora Exner (22 September 1914 - 10 August 1999) |
| Parent(s) | Adolf Exner (1841–1894) Constanze Grohmann (1858–1922) |
Franz Exner (9 August 1881 - 1 October 1947) was an Austrian-German criminologist and criminal lawyer. Alongside Edmund Mezger, Hans von Hentig and Gustav Aschaffenburg, he was a leading and in some respects a representative of the German school of criminology (which at that time tended to treat criminology as a branch of Jurisprudence, rather than as a branch of the Social sciences) in the first half of the twentieth century. During the 1920s and 1930s Exner produced work on the interface between Criminology and Sociology. He became a controversial figure among subsequent generations because of the extent to which during the 1930s and 1940s his ideas evolved towards National Socialist ideology, notably with regard to so-called "criminal biology", which, by more recent criteria imputed excessive weight to the role of hereditary factors (as opposed to environmental influences and pressures) as causes of criminal actions.