The region had been incorporated into the Soviet Union in June 1940, a couple of months before his birth, as part of the territorial carve-up envisaged in the non-aggression pact concluded between Hitler and Stalin the previous summer.
[3] He received his doctorate for basic work on sentencing practice and traffic offences ("Strafzumessungspraxis und Verkehrsdelinquenz") in 1972.
[3][4] Between 1974 and 1994 he held a full professorship in Sentencing and Criminology at Göttingen, also serving as a temporary judge at the city's district court.
[3] In 1994 he accepted an appointment at Munich, however, where he succeeded Horst Schüler-Springorum As full professor for Criminology, Youth Justice and Sentencing.
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.