Pietje Block Dipl.-Jur.

My name is Pietje Block. I studied law at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen from 2018 to 2025, complemented by a semester abroad in Turku, Finland. I completed my studies with the First State Examination (Erste Prüfung).
My research interests mainly lie in criminal justice and criminology. Nonetheless, I am eager to learn from other disciplines. That is why I am pursuing my doctoral studies within the research environment of the RTG 2987. I enjoy challenging myself by adopting different perspectives and improving my own work by doing so.
Previously, I worked at the Chair of Criminal Law and Criminology at the University of Göttingen, where I participated in projects promoting international exchange and cooperation among various actors in the legal field. My previous work primarily focused on penal law and correctional treatment (Straf- und Maßregelvollzug).

Research Project

Research Area 4: Crime and the criminalisation of people smuggling
Working title: A criminological study of "people-smuggling crime" in Germany

This doctoral project examines who is convicted of migrant smuggling in Germany and whether the application of anti-smuggling law corresponds to its stated legislative purpose. In recent years, German and European provisions have been expanded in the name of protecting migrants from organized, profit-oriented smuggling networks. However, the broad scope of these provisions may also encompass conduct by altruistic helpers and even migrants themselves. While German legal scholarship has identified this risk, empirical research on who is actually prosecuted and convicted remains limited.
To address this gap, the project uses a mixed-methods approach combining doctrinal legal analysis, file analysis of court and prosecution records, a quantitative survey among individuals detained for smuggling offences, and expert interviews or focus groups. The aim is to establish an empirical basis for assessing whether Section 96 of the German Residence Act is applied primarily to the offenders it was designed to target.