Täterfantasie

18:27 Jan 22, 2018 

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13:45 Jan 11, 2018 

@Björn The bka.de reference is very insightful. I still think we need more information from Jeff, like why/how this term is being used. I saw Gewaltphantasie in there, which I would translate as "a fantasy, or mental enactment, of a violent crime" when presenting it the first time and not "violent fantasy."

Michael Martin: I am a little doubtful that "perpetrator" tends to refer to specific crimes only. I'd like to see any sources in support.

I am not going to search for a source that says "perpetrator" means "the perpetrator of a crime" only. Coming from a police family, I can only attest to the *usage* by law enforcers.
https://definitions.uslegal.com/p/perpetrators/
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/perpetrator
https://thelawdictionary.org/perpetrator/

I think that "crime scientists," like criminal psychologists, would be more interested in the person than the act.

21:46 Jan 10, 2018 

Typical German hypercorrectness. To prove my point:
"Fantasie
s. Täterfantasie"
See PDF at https://www.bka.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Publikationen/Pub...

Duh. In other words:
"Täterphantasie ist...ein deutsches Kompositum, das wir nur deshalb verwenden, weil irgendjemand tatsächlich auf die Idee kommen könnte, im selben Zusammenhang von Opferfantasien zu sprechen..."

I recommend that you don't stick to closely to the German and use this sentence as a template;
"Recent research on one type of offender, the sex offender, has indicated that fantasy plays a major role for some offenders in preparing the offence behaviour (McCulloch et al, 1983)."
http://www.offenders-anonymous.org.uk/research-and-opinion/c...

In any case, the singular is preferable.

Cf
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201410/ser...
http://www.offenders-anonymous.org.uk/research-and-opinion/c...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_defense

02:37 Jan 10, 2018 

"Perpetrator" is specific to one crime and would more likely be used by law enforcers than criminologists. I've heard countless pursuing-the-perp stories from cops.

Without more context, I would use "criminal" or "transgressor."
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm:978-1-4612-3570-5/...
The level of the criminal centers on the transgressor and involves personal characteristics and the factors that influence the formation and evolution of his or her personality.

Not sure if Phantasie should be "fantasy" or "phantasy" or if it matters. http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/fantasy.htm

15:48 Jan 8, 2018 

Please could we have the sentence containing the word, plus some of the surrounding text.

15:39 Jan 8, 2018 

Jeff, does your context suggest a singular (fantasy) or plural (fantasies) translation?
Täterphantasie ist ein Begriff aus der Kriminologie...

15:37 Jan 8, 2018 

Perpetrator seems to be more an American term:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perp_walk

15:32 Jan 8, 2018 

In a psychology context, I don't think you need to label the Täter, especially since this is followed by a definition.

https://www.diplom.de/document/227569
4. Betrachtung der möglichen Ursachen für School Shootings ... 67
4.4. Bedeutung der Täterphantasie... 105

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-11310-9_...
Die Phantasie jugendlicher School Shooter ist in der Regel von intensiven und destruktiven Inhalten erfüllt, die sich vor Umsetzung ihrer Taten in Aufzeichnungen, Aussagen oder kreativen Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten niederschlägt... Besondere Beachtung finden zudem Überlegungen zur möglichen Umsetzung einer Gewaltphantasie in der Realität und zur Gefahr von Überreaktionen auf das Bemerken von im Kern harmlosen, da nicht umsetzungsorientierten Gewaltphantasien.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-5526-4_...
School shooters use violent phantasies to compensate for psychosocial injuries, a perceived lack of reference figures and missing viable perspectives in their social reality. These phantasies intensify over years and become more detailed as the shooting draws closer. As the mental images become more specific...

12:02 Jan 8, 2018 

All the collocations I'm seeing on Google use "offender" instead of "criminal"

10:47 Jan 8, 2018 

that the commonly used expression is "Vorstellung des Täters".
Maybe "imagination of the culprit" might fit:
https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/9783845274515/unbeende...
Or: "imagination of the perpetrator"?