The Criminological Enterprise in Europe and the United States: A Contextual Exploration

Abstract

‘European criminology’ obviously means more than simply the collaborative efforts (on drugs, restorative justice, youth gangs) between researchers and scholars from Europe. In this essay, the author compares and contrasts American criminology with criminology in Europe (as it exists in individual countries), without aiming for the essence of ‘European criminology’. She points to differences between the US and Europe with regard to the ‘criminological enterprise’ (such as history, scale, degree of institutionalisation, accessibility, diversity in theory and method, the critical and self-reflexive stance, and focal research questions), and to the differences in ‘doing science’, ‘doing justice’, and ‘doing crime’. American criminology is a powerful influence in Europe, although there may be a tendency to overestimate the importance of American criminology, because of the dominance of English-language publications. American criminology has made many positive contributions to the field of the study of law, crime and social control, and it continues to do so. However, if one defines the essence of American criminology as being policy-oriented, methodologically-driven, and lacking theoretical lustre, diversity, and critical edge, then the fear of ‘Americanisation’ of European criminology is well-placed. It is not the criminological enterprise of the US per se, but rather the notion of ‘Americanisation’ which is really at issue here.