International and Comparative Criminology

Abstract

The terms ‘international’ and ‘comparative’ criminology are often used interchangeably to refer to any research concerning crime or criminal justice that either takes place outside the researcher's country of origin or involves more than one country. Each term refers to a wide body of rich comparative research that frequently intersects both theoretically and methodologically. This article gives a broad overview of comparative research, with a focus on (1) the methodological strengths and weaknesses, (2) the state of knowledge in macro- and microlevel comparative research, and (3) regional characteristics of crime.