On the Birth of Criminology in Continental Europe, 1825-1835

Please join the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies to hear from Janne Kivivuori on the beginning years of the field of criminology in Europe.

Abstract

The first modern national crime statistics report, the Compte général de l'administration de la justice criminelle en France, was launched in 1827 and then published annually by the French Ministry of Justice. Described by contemporaries as a national monument, it became a paradigmatic example of how modern, research-enabling crime statistics should be compiled and presented. Soon after its publication, the Compte was used by several scholars in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany to analyse patterns of crime,  reflect on the limitations of statistics in the study of crime, and  call for evidence-based criminal justice reform. This presentation describes how the invention of the first modern crime statistics yearbook created the first intellectual field of criminology in continental Europe, roughly between 1825 and 1835. More generally, it argues that a 'data & instruments' approach to the history of criminology yields a different periodization compared to the 'dominant theories & explanatory paradigms' approach. 

Source: Janne Kivivuori (2024) Crime and Civilization. The Birth of Criminology in the Early Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

About the Speaker

Prof. Kivivuori’s research focuses on homicide, delinquency, methodology of crime measurement, history of criminology and historical criminology. He is currently researching the history of criminology from the perspective of data and instruments. He recently completed a Nordic project comparing early modern and modern homicide, and developing an approach to long duration homicide research (Nordic Homicide in Deep Time, Helsinki University Press 2022). He has been centrally involved in the creation of research based crime indicators, such as the Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study (FSRD, 1995-), the Finnish Homicide Monitor (FHM, 2002-), and the Finnish Crime Victim Survey (FCVS, 2012-). Currently he serves in the Steering Committees of the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD) and the European Homicide Monitor (EHM).

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