Atelier für Sexualität
Research
Research means questioning anew what appears familiar – and bringing into view what has hitherto remained beyond understanding.
I. Research Identity
Research is directed towards the development of an integrative epistemological framework for the scientific reconstruction of complex sexual offending. At its centre is theory-building at the intersection of psychoanalysis, forensic sexology, Behavioural Analysis of Sexual Offending, and Investigative Psychology. The epistemic interest lies in reconstructing the psychic architecture of serious sexual offending. The inquiry focuses on those unconscious forms of organisation within which object relations, fantasy organisations, structures of conflict and defence, paraphilic preference organisation, and observable offending behaviour constitute a functionally coherent organisation of offending.
II. Research Interests
Psychodynamic Perspectives On Crime & Investigation
Psychodynamic Criminology
Psychodynamic Investigative Psychology
Psychodynamic Offender Profiling
Psychodynamic and Behavioural Reconstruction of Modus Operandi and Signature Behaviour
Psychodynamic Reconstruction of Crime-Scene-Related Behavioural and Symbolic Structures
Psychodynamic Reconstruction of Offender–Victim Dynamics
Transference and Countertransference Processes in Criminal Investigation
Psychodynamic Processing of Investigative Work involving Serious Sexual Offending
Psychodynamic Perspectives On Serious Sexual Offending
Psychodynamics of Post-Mortem Offence Dynamics
Psychodynamics of Necrophilic Offence and Fantasy Structures
Psychodynamics of Paraphilic Preference and Fantasy Structures in Serious Sexual Offending
Psychodynamics of Lethal Offence Trajectories and Sexualised Homicidal Dynamics
Psychodynamics of Highly Escalated Interpersonal Violence
Psychodynamics of Symbolically Structured and Ritualised Offence Organisation
Psychodynamics of Serial Offence Dynamics and Cross-Offence Behavioural Patterns
Psychodynamics of Female Sexual Offending and Gender-Specific Offence Organisation
III. Current Research
Current research is dedicated to the development of theoretical models and interdisciplinary frameworks for the scientific reconstruction of serious sexual offending. The projects outlined below are at different stages of conceptual, theoretical and empirical development.
Offending Instead of Remembering: Rethinking Plombing Theory as a Heuristic Framework for Psychoanalytic Offender Profiling
Working Paper
Beyond Rapport: The Investigative Interview as Scene in Sexual Offence Investigations– A Psychoanalytic Reconceptualisation of (Erotic) Transference and Countertransference
Working Paper
When Paraphilias Support Offender Profiling-and When They Distort Criminal Investigations: Between Explanatory Power and Investigative Bias
Working Paper
Mapping Perversion: A Psychoanalytic Reconceptualisation of Mental Maps in the Geographical Profiling of Sexual Offending
Working Paper
Dreaming the Interview: A Deep Hermeneutic Reconstruction of Professional Responses to Post-Interview Dream Experiences in Sexual Crime Investigative Interviewing
In Preparation
The Animal as Other: A Deep Hermeneutic Reconstruction of Human- Animal Object Relations in Zoophilic Self-Narratives and Their Implications for Offender Profiling
Research Proposal
IV. Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
23
Jul
2026
Beyond Rapport: The Investigative Interview as Scene in Sexual Offence Investigations – A Psychoanalytic Reconceptualisation of (Erotic) Transference and Countertransference
Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling
First Published: 23 July 2026 | Peer-reviewed
Astract
This paper reconceptualises the investigative interview as a scene of encounter in sexual offence investigations, emphasising the psychoanalytic dynamics of (erotic) transference and countertransference. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory and empirical insights, it explores how unconscious relational processes shape communication, information exchange, and meaning-making within investigative settings. The paper argues for a deep hermeneutic understanding of these dynamics and discusses implications for investigative practice, training, and the quality of evidentiary material.
DOI: 10.4324/jip.2026.00123
No preview currently available
V. Research Integrity
Research integrity is understood as a practice of intellectual responsibility: towards science and the rigour of its methodological standards; towards the limits of scientific knowledge; towards the people and subjects to which research directs its attention; and towards the knowledge it produces. The research proceeds from a reconstructive epistemological position that does not mistake theoretical plausibility for empirical validity. Interpretations remain bound by the transparency of their methodological derivation and the strength of their evidential basis; competing explanations must be subjected to systematic scrutiny, uncertainty acknowledged as an inherent limit of scientific knowledge, and the scope of what may reasonably be inferred determined with the same care as the boundaries beyond which inference cannot legitimately extend.
Juliane Kröner
VI. Methodological Framework
The methodological signature of the research is grounded in the tradition of psychoanalytic-reconstructive thought and the empirical-structural research tradition of Investigative Psychology.
01. Conceptual & Theoretical Research
Theory Building
Conceptual Analysis
Model Development
02. Psychoanalytic Depth-Hermeneutic Research
Scenic Understanding
Associative Interpretation
Reconstruction of Latent Structures of Meaning
03. Facet-Theoretical & Multidimensional Research
Facet Theory
Multidimensional Scaling
Smallest Space Analysis
VII. Academic Engagement
Scholarly work takes shape through the exchange of disciplines, institutions, and intellectual traditions. The academic engagement encompasses international learned societies, research collaborations, scholarly service, peer review, and participation in the wider academic discourse.
01
Scholarly Affiliations
Engagement with national and international learned societies and scholarly networks across criminology, investigative psychology, psychoanalysis, forensic sexology, and offender profiling.
Selected Affiliations
These scholarly affiliations reflect the interdisciplinary orientation of my research across criminology, investigative psychology, forensic sexology, and psychoanalysis.
View all Affiliations →
02
Academic Service
Service on scientific advisory boards, boards and governing bodies, contributing to the strategic, institutional and scholarly development of learned societies and academic organisations.
Current Appointment
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board
M.E.L.I.N.A. – Inzestkinder/Menschen aus VerGEWALTigung e. V.
(German Association for People Conceived through Incest)
2025 — present
03
Research Collaborations
Research collaborations at the intersection of psychoanalysis, forensic sexology, investigative psychology, and offender profiling, bringing psychodynamic theory, empirical research, and investigative analysis into interdisciplinary dialogue.
International Research Collaboration
The Animal as Other:
A Deep Hermeneutic Reconstruction of Human–Animal Object Relations in Zoophilic Self-Narratives and Their Implications for Offender Profiling
Prof. Dr. Richard Lemke
Hochschule Merseburg, Germany
Forensic Sexology
Juliane Kröner
Research Project Lead Overall responsibility for conceptual development, methodology, and scholarly integration
Dr. Noah Fritz
European Forensic Institute, Malta
Criminology &
Offender Profiling
Project Scope
The project brings psychoanalytic deep-hermeneutic research into dialogue with forensic sexological and investigative-psychological perspectives on zoophilic self-narratives, examining their implications for offender profiling.
International · Interdisciplinary · Collaborative | 2026–Present
04
Editorial & Peer-Review Activities
Contribution to scholarly quality assurance through peer-review and editorial activities within international academic publishing.
Current Involvement
Peer Reviewer
Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling
International peer-reviewed journal
2026 — present
05
Conference & Academic Presentations
Presentation of original research within national and international scholarly discourse through conference contributions, academic lectures, and poster presentations.
Selected Conference Contributions
No preview currently available
VIII. Research Vision
The long-term research agenda is concerned with the constitution of Psychodynamic Offender Profiling as a distinct school of scientific offender profiling in serious sexual offending – from the construction of its theoretical framework and methodology, through the empirical operationalisation and testing of its models, to their translation into operational investigative practice.
It takes as its point of departure an offender-profiling tradition whose contemporary explanatory architecture is shaped substantially by empirical-behavioural, differential, social and environmental psychological, as well as decision-theoretical perspectives. A systematic theory of the relationship between unconscious psychic organisation and manifest offence behaviour has yet to be developed within this tradition to a comparable degree.
Psychodynamic Offender Profiling seeks to articulate this theoretically underdeveloped dimension from a psychoanalytic perspective. Serious sexual offending is conceptualised as a psychodynamically organised offence constellation, within which psychic structure, object-relational and fantasy organisation, conflict and defensive dynamics, paraphilic preference organisation, and manifest offence behaviour are reconstructed not as discrete phenomena, but in their relational and functional interdependence.
The aim is to develop a theoretically coherent, empirically testable and methodologically operationalisable framework through which the psychodynamic dimension of serious sexual offending can be established as a distinct explanatory level within scientific offender profiling and systematically translated into both research and investigative practice.
