Gustav Aschaffenburg (May 23, 1866 – September 2, 1944) was a German psychiatrist born in

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...

. In 1890 he received his medical doctorate from the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

with a thesis on delirium tremens. Later he worked as an assistant to

Emil Kraepelin Emil Wilhelm Georg Magnus Kraepelin (; ; 15 February 1856 – 7 October 1926) was a German psychiatrist. H. J. Eysenck's ''Encyclopedia of Psychology'' identifies him as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology and psych ...

at the psychiatric university clinic in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, with whom he later extensively wrote about Haltlose personality disorder. He then practiced psychiatric medicine at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

and at the ''Akademie für praktische Medizin'' in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

(from 1919 the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

). In the 1930s Aschaffenburg's academic career at

was terminated by the Nazi edict, '' Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums'', and he eventually emigrated to the United States, working as a professor at the Catholic University of America in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

and at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. He wrote about the distinctions between Haltlose and

Gemütlose psychopathy Gemütlose psychopathy was one of the initial seven forms of psychopathy identified by Emil Kraepelin and later psychiatrists. It was of particular interest to forensic psychiatrists and criminologists as it and Haltlose personality disorder were ...

. Aschaffenburg was a pioneer in the fields of criminology and

forensic psychiatry Forensic psychiatry is a subspeciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. According to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, it is defined as "a subspecialty of psychiat ...

. In 1903 he published an early systematic study on the causes of crime titled "''Das Verbrechen und seine Bekämpfung''", in which he discusses individual-hereditary and social-environmental factors, and also dismisses Cesare Lombroso's idea of the so-called "born criminal". Later the work was translated into English, and published as '' Crime and it's Repression'' (1913).The Free Library
Inventing the Criminal: A History of German Criminology, 1880-1945.

References

(translated biography) 1866 births 1944 deaths People from Zweibrücken People from the Palatinate (region) German psychiatrists German emigrants to the United States Catholic University of America faculty Johns Hopkins University faculty Academic staff of the University of Halle Academic staff of the University of Cologne {{Germany-psychiatrist-stub