History and global criminology

How might historical analysis enrich global criminology? More specifically, could histories of European crime contribute to understandings of social change in present-day Asia? How can evidence bases generated through distinct research practices - those used by historians, criminologists and criminal justice consultants - be combined? This article explores these challenges through an analysis of contemporary Vietnamese concerns about youth crime and a critique of local and international policy makers' efforts to address these. It argues that historically informed analysis can enrich understanding in four key ways. The first is that this kind of analysis suggests how French colonialism and its legacies have shaped Vietnamese criminal justice practice through (in)direct policy transfer. The second is that it can help to defuse current moral panics by locating Vietnam's rising youth crime within a familiar historical pattern. The third is that it can broaden the narrow evidence base available to those searching for youth justice interventions that 'work'. Finally, a historical view can expand existing spaces for difficult but critical dialogues around human rights in a reforming authoritarian state with its own traumatic past.© The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD). All rights reserved.