Holm Putzke


Holm Putzke is a professor for criminal law at the University of Passau, Germany.

Education and career

Putzke studied law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bochum and passed the First State Examination in Law 1997, followed by the Second State Examination in Law in 2002. In 2003 he received the PhD in law and 2009 the Master of Laws at the Jagiellonian University of Kraków/Poland. From 2002 until 2003 he was a graduate teaching assistant at the chair of criminal law, criminal procedure law and general legal philosophy at the Faculty of Law, University of Bochum and from 2003 until 2010 an associate professor at the chair of criminology, criminal policy and police science at the faculty of law, University of Bochum. Since 2010 Putzke is a professor and works also as a criminal defence lawyer.
Putzke worked as an expert for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and for the project Juveniles' Rights in Criminal Procedure and Guarantees to their Practical Implementation in Kazakhstan on behalf of the Soros Foundation—Kazakhstan, and on behalf European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Estonia as well.

Main interests

Putzke's main fields of interest are criminal law, criminal procedural law, criminal law relating to young offenders and relating to economic offenses, and criminology.

Legality of male circumcision

In 2012, Putzke became known for his work on the legality of male circumcision. On May 7, 2012, a court in Cologne, Germany ruled that circumcision was "inflicting bodily harm on boys too young to consent", deciding that the practice contravenes the "interests of the child to decide later in life on his religious beliefs". This worldwide discussed decision based on the article "Die strafrechtliche Relevanz der Beschneidung von Knaben", published by Holm Putzke in 2008. This article was the first one in Germany which broach the issue; his article had a significant influence for the whole discussion about circumcision as criminal assault in Germany. Putzke's 2008 article set the stage for Germany's legal view of infant circumcision. In the article, he stated, "There are no compelling arguments which can justify a religious circumcision of minors. Without effective consent, the assault is illegal. A physician should refuse to perform a circumcision if it is not medically indicated." In the wake of Germany's controversial ruling, Putzke has been in the media spotlight, receiving threats of drowning and forcible circumcision. Putzke’s work swayed significant the current debate in Germany.
Putzke argues "that medically unnecessary operations should be delayed until a patient is capable of deciding whether to have a part of his genitals cut off".