Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

Valid and reliable cross-national estimates of rape are needed to more fully understand the extent and nature of these victimizations. Methodological issues that compromise the integrity of cross-national comparisons of self-report survey data have been identified. These issues have neither been systematically addressed, nor is there a consensus as to how to correct them. This article examines the effects that the definition and operationalization of rape have on completed and attempted rape estimates from the National Violence Against Women Survey in the United States and the Swiss component of the International Violence Against Women Survey. Survey design issues related to operationalizing the victim-offender relationship and its effect on rape estimates are discussed. Cross-national rape estimates with and without addressing the comparability issues are presented. The implications for engaging in comparative rape research are also discussed.

This article explores the use of photographs in documenting the lives of women in Santa Maria Ixcotel state prison in southern México. In living for the audience in the photos, the women provide a deeper understanding of their own experiences and those of all women behind bars. The author argues that an interplay among photographs, a textual narrative, and existing facts, statistics, and knowledge from sociological and criminological literature allows for a deeper understanding about incarcerated women's lives. The photographs are particularly important because, in lieu of the absence of literature on indigenous women in prison in Latin America, they become a powerful testimony, evidence of these women's abandonment.

This article considers some of the problems associated with studying crime and criminal justice in countries where the lingua franca is not the native language of the main researchers involved. It reviews some of the more salient difficulties facing nonnative researchers in conducting cross-national research and the various approaches used to mitigate any adverse implications for the research outcomes. In doing so, the article draws on existing literature and the author's own expertise as a translator and interpreter and experiences as a member of a research team conducting both primary and secondary criminological research in Russia. The intention is not to produce a technical how-to guide that deals exclusively with translation because translation is only one aspect of the linguistic problems facing international researchers. As the title of the article suggests, the focus is much broader than translation and encompasses notions of communication and culture.

Comparative research has rapidly grown to become one of the most viable perspectives and methodologies in contemporary criminology, particularly in studies with primary data collected through ethnographic fieldwork. This study examines major issues (e.g., access, informed consent, conceptual and cultural equivalence) confronted by comparative scholars conducting fieldwork in China. Data used in this study involve the authors' own research experience in collecting primary data regarding law and the legal system in several cities in China through methods such as courtroom observations, interviews, and surveys. Systematic documentary analysis serves as a main analytical strategy to enhance interpretive validity.

International criminological research is growing both in terms of prominence and occurrence. Boundaries for conducting research are expanding well beyond our respective national borders. Foreign nationals or visiting fellows—who venture outside their home countries to compare or contrast existing crime trends, events, policies, or practices—are faced with a myriad of challenges. One methodological challenge is to conduct research within ethical constructs. However, the issue becomes “To which country's code of practice or ethical standards does the international researcher adhere?” The purpose of this article is to explore the issue of doing ethical international research with the aim of offering pragmatic suggestions on how to proceed with international studies that can withstand ethical scrutiny.