马克斯·普朗克犯罪、安全和法律研究所（前身为马克斯·普朗克外国和国际刑法研究所）由三个研究部门组成：犯罪学、公法和刑法。在犯罪学系，对个人倾向和环境因素导致人们犯罪进行研究。为此，长期科学研究与虚拟现实世界中的行为实验相结合。公法系处理公共安全法。它调查法律制度如何应对危险，以防止刑事犯罪和其他损害。刑法系在全球化、移民以及社会和文化分裂的背景下，对刑法的基本原理、禁止规范和刑事处罚进行研究。由于其跨学科的法律，社会科学和心理学研究方法，该研究所的重点是基础研究以及应用研究。

The Max Planck Institute for Crime, Security and Law (formerly the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law) consists of three research departments: criminology, public Law and criminal Law. In the Department of criminology, the study of personal tendencies and environmental factors that lead people to commit crimes. To this end, long-term scientific research is combined with behavioral experiments in the virtual reality world. Public law deals with public safety law. It investigates how the legal system responds to danger in order to prevent criminal offences and other harm. The Department of Criminal law studies the basic principles of criminal law, prohibitions, and criminal penalties in the context of globalization, immigration, and social and cultural fragmentation. With its interdisciplinary approach to law, social science and psychological research, the Institute focuses on basic research as well as applied research.