[1] When he died a tribute in the news magazine Der Spiegel asserted that throughout his [adult] life Horst Schüler-Springorum campaigned for prison reform and for an enlightened and intelligent approach to criminal justice.
[7] He switched his focus to Criminal justice, and in 1967 received his habilitation (academic qualification) from Hamburg University for work on the legal status of detainees and the prison system in transition.
[8][9] The work, which was supervised by Rudolf Sieverts, was subsequently published as a book, and supported reforms to the German penal system which Schüler-Springorum promoted, with some success, during the next couple of decades.
[5] He moved again in 1975, this time to Munich University where he held the teaching chair in Criminology, Youth Justice and Prison matters ("Kriminologie, Jugendstrafrecht und Strafvollzug").
[13] In parallel with his work as a law professor, Horst Schüler-Springorum engaged in various activities that promoted more directly the ideas set out in his 1969 book "Strafvollzug im Übergang" ("Prison Policy in Transition"),[9] which gained traction internationally and through which Germany's subsequent Rehabilitation as an objective of imprisonment strategy is anchored.