The Revival of Comparative Criminology in a Globalised World: Local Variances and Indigenous Over‐representation

Abstract

In this article, I first examine the viability of comparative criminological research in a globalised world. Further, I test the validity of some global explanatory models against the local situation in countries that appear to resist the dominant trend, such as the Netherlands and Canada. I then zoom in even further to the intra-national differences in some federal nations, such as Canada and Australia, where this situation is often linked to the overrepresentation of Indigenous people and the consequences of colonialism. Finally, I discuss the future of comparative criminological research.

Indigenous Worlds and Criminological Exclusion: A Call to Reorientate the Criminological Compass

“…5 Some of the outstanding pieces published by the IJCJSD provide proof of the premises on which we base our proposal. Tubex (2013) demonstrates that the colonisation of the Americas and Oceania in the XV-XVII centuries created the structures that currently keep Indigenous communities in a situation of generalised deprivation. Cleary (2014) and Heydon (2018) expose how the laws apparently created to protect Indigenous lands usually contain 'paths' easily exploited by corporations to takeover Aboriginal territories.…”

(Re)producing Guilt in Suspect Communities: The Centrality of Racialisation in Joint Enterprise Prosecutions

“…The question of racial disproportionality within the criminal justice system (CJS) remains a vexed issue in England and Wales amid the ongoing contention that negatively racialised groups have a quantifiably different experience of the CJS (Ministry of Justice [MOJ] 2017b). The 'extreme over-representation' of racialised and indigenous people (Cunneen and Rowe 2014) in other countries with colonial histories presents an urgent focus for comparative criminology (Tubex 2013). Contemporary political, criminological and policy discourses seeking to explain such differences in treatment remain inconclusive, and yet paradoxically serve to affirm the imagery of negatively racialised communities as being disproportionately involved in the committal of serious forms of offending behaviour.…”

Cultural peers and penal policies: A configurational approach toward mapping penal landscapes

“…There cannot be any doubt that comparative perspectives, conceptualizations and methodologies in criminology are presently changing in the wake of their ‘revival in a globalised world’ (Tubex, 2013). Lessons from globalization generally and changes in the analytical toolbox with which globalization issues are addressed in other disciplines have been decisive in developing fresh approaches.…”

“…Lessons from globalization generally and changes in the analytical toolbox with which globalization issues are addressed in other disciplines have been decisive in developing fresh approaches. These include: comparative research at the micro-level (Tubex, 2013); comparisons within regions (Johnson and Zimring, 2009; Karstedt, 2014a, 2014b); focusing on mechanisms of diffusion and adoption of policies rather than on agency-less approaches (Dobbin et al., 2007). Finally, as ‘strong cultural differences between countries remain’ (Tonry, 2001: 530) (as well as similarities), cultural values will have an increasingly stronger role in comparative studies of penal systems (Karstedt, 2011a, 2011b).…”