Research work · 2023
3. Towards a global comparative criminology
The Oxford Handbook of Criminology
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the achievements and challenges of comparative criminology in the field. It elaborates on the development of comparative criminology, which is the study of crime and crime control across two or more larger social contexts to describe differences, testing theories, and drawing practically valuable inferences from comparisons. Due to the data revolution in global criminology, it is becoming possible to broadly describe levels and trends in crime across most parts of the world. Comparative research of criminal justice and penal institutions benefits from adopting a multi-layered ecological framework to understand the effects of social contexts on crime. Overall, comparative criminology aims to become an integrative framework for explaining crime globally along two dimensions.