Letter from the Editor
Welcome to Oxford’s online digital research encyclopedia covering the large and increasingly diverse scholarly world of criminological and criminal justice research. Its articles are based on the latest, most impactful research and written by active and well-respected scholars within the discipline. The Encyclopedia builds upon a distinguished tradition at Oxford University Press of publishing authoritative reference works in fields such as Linguistics, American History, Sociology, and Religion.
The Encyclopedia is for researchers, teachers, and students interested in all facets of the study of crime and justice issues. As a scholarly resource, it is a dynamic and constantly evolving research tool providing high-quality, up-to-date reference materials. It combines the high standards of Oxford scholarly publishing with the flexibility and accessibility of a digital environment.
A unique strength of the online encyclopedia is the emphasis on the state of research and its focus on the needs of researchers in various subfields. Articles examine the evolution and status of current and past research programs and their dynamics, the significant issues that drive research; and the interaction between theory and empirical realities and policy. Authors seek to engage readers and stimulate research by discussing motivations, unresolved questions, and directions for new research. The website is easy to use and intuitive, facilitating multiple paths for researchers and students to find related material, whether within the ORE, in OUP’s ecosystem, or directly linking to cited sources.
The ORE of Criminology and Criminal Justice is meant to serve as a focal point for both scholarly knowledge dissemination and scholarly conversation. To that end, highly respected and influential criminology and criminal justice researchers from around the world worked to build a taxonomy of major research categories that has served as our foundation for this resource as it has grown over the years. Online, electronic publishing is a rapid, dynamic format, and when combined with leading-edge research commentaries, like we have done in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, it allows contributors to play a significant role in shaping the discipline for years to come.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
City University of New York
University of California, Irvine