The Internationalization of Criminology? A Content Analysis of Presentations at American Society of Criminology Conferences

Abstract

This research uses a content analysis of the presentations at the American Society of Criminology conferences in the 1990s to examine the internationalization of American criminology. During this decade, developments external to the American Society of Criminology, as well as internal developments, suggested that the disciplines of criminology and criminal justice were becoming increasingly internationalized. Internationalization is desirable for a number of reasons: increasing the external validity of theory; increasing global “best practice” in criminal justice; and reducing pockets of impunity as crime becomes increasingly transnational. Content analyses of conference proceedings are rare in the literature but offer an alternative to content analyses of journals and textbooks. s were coded as to their international or comparative nature, the country affiliations of presenters, the topics covered, and panel format and their placement in the program. The findings reveal that despite some progress, criminology in the United States can still be said to be largely based on single country analyses and US‐centric in nature.