Incorporating Socio‐Historical Context into Quantitative Cross‐National Criminology

This paper critically examines how quantitative cross‐national crime studies have ignored socio‐historical context in their analyses and interpretation of results. In particular, spatial and temporal dynamics that shape the social, political, and economic characteristics of nation‐states are often overlooked in favor of variable‐driven models. This paper illustrates how two popular research design decisions, namely the use of non‐representative samples and cross‐sectional designs, minimize the importance of space and time in quantitative cross‐national crime research. It reviews the quantitative cross‐national crime literature of the past 40 years and uses examples from the treatment of the countries of the former communist bloc in Eastern Europe to highlight some of the limitations of these research designs. The paper concludes with recommendations for incorporating socio‐historical context into quantitative comparative criminology.

Notes

The author thanks Graeme Newman and the editor and anonymous reviewers of this journal for valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Contact information: Dr. Janet P. Stamatel, Assistant Professor, School of Criminal Justice and Informatics Faculty, University at Albany, Draper 210B, 135 Western Ave., Albany, NY 12222. Phone: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. E‐mail: [email protected]