In conjunction with the 19th World Congress of Criminology held in Doha, Qatar from 27 to 31 October 2019, the Education for Justice (E4J) Programme of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Society of Criminology (ISC) held an international competition for best papers on any aspect of the theme of the Congress: Science, Technology and Teaching in Criminology: Researching, Investigating & Preventing Crime. An emphasis on teaching and/or educating on rule of law and related matters was encouraged. Papers were to be grounded in theory or a conceptual framework. Research based on all methodologies – qualitative, quantitative and interpretive – was welcome. It was open to young criminologists worldwide.
The competition was very successful. A large number of papers was submitted by young scholars from all over the world. The procedure of selecting winners was carried out in close cooperation between the ISC and the UNODC. The ten winning papers represent all the major regions in the world, a variety of themes of great current relevance, and diverse methodologies. They are published here by the name of the country of each participant in alphabetical order.
The winners received financial support to travel to and attend the 19th World Congress of Criminology and were recognized during a special plenary session. There, each one presented a summary of his/her research and received an award certificate and other prizes.
The competition had a number of objectives. First and foremost, it was to encourage and support young academics in their scholarly pursuits; then, to motivate them to become aware and integrate into their work the objectives of the E4J Programme and to contribute to its advancement and success; and also to take into account and include into a criminology discourse the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Moreover, the ISC wanted to stress its international nature, agenda and objectives and especially to encourage and support participants from areas of the world where there are considerable obstacles to being noticed, recognized and rewarded.
This special issue contains the ten winning papers. As the editor, I want to thank the winners for their participation, commitment and cooperation. I also want to recognize the partnership, generosity and collaboration of the E4J Programme of the UNODC. It was not only a special honour but also a joy to work on this exciting project with distinguished and highly professional colleagues who dedicated considerable time, energy and attention to ensure the success of this competition.
A warm word of thanks is also deserved by the local organizing committee, especially the Law School of the University of Qatar and the Police Academy of Qatar who generously supported the 19th World Congress of Criminology in many different ways and kindly provided their own gifts for the winners at the awards plenary session.
A sincere thanks is also offered to the translators of the abstracts done from English to Arabic by Suzan Anis Al Hassanieh of Beirut, Lebanon, and from English into Mandarin by Wang Na of Shanghai, China. Their professionalism, attention to detail, perception of fine nuances and dissection of complex meanings are deeply appreciated.
Finally, I want to thank all those who competed regardless of winning or not. Their participation was an inspiration and a concrete demonstration that there are indeed brilliant and talented young people committed to making substantial contributions to the study of deviance and crime, to the evidence-based development of crime prevention and intervention policies and programmes, and to continuing the work of their predecessors for the construction of a better, just and safer world. The ISC is pleased to present to you the work of the young criminologists and looks forward to repeating this competition soon.
Emilio C. Viano has earned several law degrees in the UK and USA and a Ph.D. in Rome and another in New York, both “summa cum laude”. He has been a Professor at the American University, the Washington College of Law and other universities worldwide. He is President of the International Society of Criminology and Editor of the International Annals of Criminology. He serves on the Steering Committee of the Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development at the World Bank, the Board of Directors of the International Association of Penal Law, and others. He has also been Senior Advisor on Cyber Crime at the Legal Vice Presidency, the World Bank.
His pioneering work in victimology was recognized by the award of the “Hans Von Hentig” Medal, the highest recognition of the World Society of Victimology. He has also been a recipient of Fulbright Scholar awards. He was the Program Chair for the 17th World Congress of Criminology held in Mexico (2014) and for the 18th World Congress held in India (2016) and organized the 2019 World Congress in Doha, Qatar. He has also served as General Reporter on Cybercrime for the International Association of Penal Law. He organized and chaired an international conference on Female Migration to ISIS in Venice, Italy.
Dr. Viano has published extensively in the field of criminology, victimology, international criminal law, terrorism and cybercrime. He is a recognized political analyst interviewed regularly on CNN, Voice of America, France 24, UNIVISION, Canadian Broadcasting Service and several other media outlets.
