Abstract

The paper deals with the criminalistic-judicial and media specific prerequisites, on the basis of which the scene of crime photography was employed as evidence and identification around 1900. Based on the only existing crime scene photographs in Germany, kept by the Berlin Police collection and Berlin Archives, the focus will be both on the criminalistic concepts and judicial laws – exemplarily reflected by the Dienstanweisung für Kapitalverbrechen from 1902 [service instruction concerning capital crimes] and a decision of the criminal senate from 1903 – and on the photographic methods and aesthetics, taught in the forensic textbooks from 1893 through 1912, that allowed for the photographic reconstruction of crimes