International and Comparative Criminal Justice

This research network combines WUN and non-WUN partners with interests in a range of inter-related themes that coalesce around the internationalisation of crime control, by exploring questions of comparison (both convergences and divergences) in the development of policy, norms and institutional infrastructures.

The network is interested in both the development of international institutions and processes, as well as comparisons between national and sub-national developments. Questions about policy transfer, lesson-drawing and international trends in the coordination and delivery of modes of criminal justice and crime control are at the forefront of research concerns within this network.

The Network research priorities are as follows.

  • International Criminal Justice and Global Governance
  • Comparative Penology and Penal Policies
  • Comparative Urban Governance and International Policing

The network held an inaugural meeting between 26 and 28 June 2008 at the University of Leeds. Nearly forty international delegates attended including representatives from China, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and across Europe.

It discussed diverse local, national and international contemporary security challenges in the fields of comparative urban governance, comparative penal policies and international criminal justice. The proceedings will be published by Cambridge University Press in a forthcoming book.

The ICCJnet hosts a fellowship to be awarded in each year (up to the value of $20,000 Australian dollars).

In 2009, the Fellowship will be based at the University of Sydney and has been awarded to James Cockayne a Senior Associate at the International Peace Institute, New York. In 2010, Leeds and Sheffield Universities will co-host the fellowship. 

Project Publications

Forthcoming Crawford, A. (ed.) International and Comparative Criminal Justice and Urban Governance, Cambridge University Press.