13. Global criminology 1

This chapter presents an overview of global criminology, introducing the overarching theme and concept of globalisation and drawing comparisons between crime and justice in different countries. Today, criminologists who research other parts of the world increasingly turn to international definitions of crime, and international understanding of the causes of crime and the effectiveness and legitimacy of the various forms of crime control. In doing so, criminologists in the Global North are becoming more aware that they need to diversify the discipline further to include the knowledge and viewpoints of researchers from the Global South. The emerging area of global criminology is divided into two broad areas of research interest. The first, comparative criminology, focuses on identifying and understanding convergences and divergences in crime and justice between nations and regions. The second area, transnational criminology, explores the nature of organised, state, and corporate crimes and responses to organised crimes that cross borders.

Between Theory and Reality: The challenge of distinguishing between trafficked children and independent child migrants

The offence of child trafficking appears to have a clear definition in the UN Trafficking Protocol and in laws based on it. In practice, this is an illusion. This article reviews the experiences of three countries (Benin, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam), in two of which anti-trafficking laws and policies regard a broad swath of children who migrate to earn a living, without being subjected to coercion, as victims of trafficking. It questions whether the definitions in international law and in the laws of many countries of what constitutes the crime of trafficking committed against a child are appropriate to distinguish between adolescent migrants in general and those who are victims of crime (at the hands of a trafficker) in particular. It suggests that this is in part because there is no international understanding about the ages at which children habitually leave home to find work and what should be done to protect them when they do. It concludes that a possible result of considering a very broad range of children to be ‘trafficked’ is that measures to protect and assist those who suffer acute harm are inadequate.

Learning from each other: The role of libraries in the promotion of international understanding

ACRL’s vision is that of a future where academic and research librarians and libraries are essential to a thriving global community of learners and scholars.1 In today’s world, no community can exist alone. We live in an interdependent world. We need to understand each other, cooperate, and work towards mutual benefits.In such a context of interdependence, the current pandemic has shown that the COVID-19 virus knows no geographical or racial boundaries. The search for a vaccine to control the virus has also required a collaborative international effort. Businesses are involved in the import and export of products from many different countries. Education is a global business with students and scholars traversing national borders to seek and share knowledge. Similarly, libraries provide access to resources and services that may have originated or been developed in some countries, and users may be remotely accessing them from other countries. We live in a global community.

In the News

Welcome to the April 2021 issue of C&RL News. In the latest installment of our International Insights column, “Learning from each other,” Diljit Singh of the University of Malaysia reflects on the role of academic libraries in the promotion of international understanding, especially in the time of COVID-19.

New Herding Networks

This chapter examines the multiple meanings that the case studies presented in this book hold for development politics, programs, and research. This analysis does not point to a winner or singular conclusion. Instead, it indicates that many herding communities are producing data, narratives, images, and films that enrich and advance academic and international understanding of moments of crisis. This chapter examines how herding communities deliberate through frames of “nomadology,” proleptic elegies, and settlement. It concludes with an examination of the roles of academics in ensuring that nomadic and mobile communities are accurately represented, discussed, consulted, and collaborated with in future research projects.

Embodying Sonic Resonance as/after Trauma

This chapter shows that interwar French musicians understood music making as a therapeutic, vibrational, bodily practice. Soldiers’ accounts of music making in correspondence and diaries reveal that enlisted musicians were frequently concerned with how music’s organized vibrations offered antidotes to the unpredictable and harmful vibrations of warfare. In memoirs and method books, professional French musicians like Marguerite Long, Émile Vuillermoz, and Marcelle Gerar described singing and piano playing as mentally and physically beneficial sensorial practices. Investigation of scientific, medical, psychology, and musical discourse from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reveals a genealogy of the perception of music as a healing vibrational medium that was prevalent during and after World War I. In situating these accounts of music making’s benefits within broader international understanding of music’s sonic qualities, this chapter illuminates the role that vibration played in the development of music therapy in France during World War I.

The development of protections for the right to marry guaranteed by Article 12 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

Starting from the 21st century, the European Court of Human Rights has changed the approach regarding the interpretation of the right to marry protected under Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The new liberal attitude towards the content of this right has opened up opportunities for new categories of persons to enter into marriage and start a family. The question arises whether the European Court of Human Rights will continue with this trend of interpretation and what consequences that could cause for the international understanding of marriage and family.

Lessons to the “Kyosei” Inclusive Society

It is essential to know that there are various cultures in the world and necessary to understand and respect them to live together, also known as “共生 Kyosei.” Japan is assumed to be a homogeneous society, but there are indigenous people who have consciousness detached from Japan. In recent years, the number of foreign newcomers has also been increasing. Under these circumstances, the importance of mutual understanding of different cultures and languages has been made apparent in the field of education, and understanding the diversity of culture in education is being promoted. In this study, three educational practices targeting schoolteachers and adults in the Japanese community to promote international understanding and multicultural education will be presented and examined. The “共生 Kyosei” practices have been found to help teachers design their multicultural education as well as to help students to understand the cultural diversity and help them to realize how they live together with people who have different social backgrounds.

Pilgrims and Missionaries of Social Peace: Geneva and Pontigny as Sites of Scandinavian Internationalism in Late Interwar Europe

This article investigates two interlinked sites of Scandinavian socialist internationalism in continental Europe: the Nordic folk high school in Geneva and the humanistic centre created by French philosopher Paul Desjardins in Pontigny. Locating and situating these two nodes on the cultural-political map of late interwar Europe allows for a study of how actors from the popular movements in Denmark, Norway and Sweden mobilised educational ideals and practices to internationalise the experience of Scandinavian social democracy. The analysis shows how the transnational activities of the Nordic folk high school’s study course opened up new spaces for Scandinavian internationalism. In this way, the article argues, the school represented an experiment in internationalism from below where Nordism was deployed as a cultural strategy to create international understanding for working-class Scandinavians; and created new arenas for Nordic encounters with French political and intellectual milieus that admired Scandinavian democracy and social peace.

International Understanding among Nursing and Pharmacy Students in Japan

The purpose of this research is to establish a model for assessing interest in international understanding among nursing and pharmacy students in Japan. The study design was a cross-sectional survey of nursing and pharmacy students in their first to fourth years at Josai International University. The International Understanding Scale (IUS2000), consisting of four domains (respect for human rights, understanding international culture, awareness of world solidarity, and understanding foreign languages) with 27 items, was used. A path analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to model international understanding. The model of international understanding of nursing and pharmacy students was established as the second-order four-factor mode. The international understanding of nursing and pharmacy students was mainly composed of respect for human rights and awareness of world solidarity and was less affected by understanding foreign languages. Nursing students in our study had a higher international understanding than pharmacy students. International understanding was considered relevant to students’ learning about the importance of interprofessional collaboration as well as their interests in global learning environments for healthcare professionals. The relationship between international understanding and future progress in healthcare performance needs to be studied to show the importance of international understanding education.