Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Themes

The Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice is a theme-based journal.  Authors are asked to review the upcoming themes and submit relevant manuscripts directly to the respective Guest Editors, noted below.  Do not submit manuscripts to either Sage Publications or the General Editor.

Upcoming Themes and Guest Editors:

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Trends in Intimate Partner Homicide during the COVID-19 pandemic: Theoretical explanations and criminal policy implications (May 2024)
By Invitation
Co-Editors: Marcelo Aebi (marcelo.aebi@unil.ch) and Lorena Molnar (lorena.molnar@unil.ch)

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Patterns and Trends of Homicide in Europe and Beyond (August 2024)
By Invitation
Co-Editors: Nora Markwalder (nora.markwalder@unisg.ch), Marieke Liem, and Janne Kivivuori

This special issue will address patterns and trends of homicide in different European countries as well as in a number of non-European nations.  The contributions are based on individual level data sources and allow disaggregated homicide analysis. Authors will present different subtypes of homicide as well as the challenges homicide researchers face in Europe and beyond.

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Many Paths Through the Forest: The Complex Realities
of Prison Research and Innovation in the Modern Era (November 2024)
By Invitation
Co-Editors: Beth Huebner (beth.huebner@asu.edu) and Kathy Fox (kathy.fox@uvm.edu)

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The National Crime Victimization Survey at Fifty (February 2025)
By Invitation
Co-Editors:  Min Xie (mxie@umd.edu) and Jim Lynch (jlynch14@umd.edu)

This special issue has three main objectives. First, it will enhance the learning of the NCVS’s origins, design, and development. Second, it will demonstrate contributions based on NCVS data to theory, practice, and methodology.  Third, it will contribute toward comparative survey research and place the United States in the context of other societies through crossnational comparisons.

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Questions in Contemporary Juvenile Justice (May 2025)
Call for Papers
Co-Editors:  Chris Sullivan (cjsullivan@umsl.edu), Nicole McKenna (nmckenna@jjay.cuny.edu), and Insun Park (ipark@akron.edu)

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Gender, Intersections, and Crime (August 2025)
By Invitation
Co-Editors:  Karen Heimer (
kheimer@uiowa.edu) and Stacy De Coster (smcoster@ncsu.edu)

 

This special issue focuses on research on gender, crime and justice that is grounded in intersectional approaches. The papers will consider how multiple and complex inequalities shape experiences with crime, victimization, and justice systems.  Papers will be a mix of theoretical and empirical pieces, using a variety of methodologies. 

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ISRD Project (November 2025)
By Invitation
Editor:  Anna Markina (anna.markina@ut.ee)

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Crime and Punishment Databases in Greater China (February 2026)
By Invitation
Co-Editors: Hong Lu (hong.lu@unlv.edu), Bin Liang (bin.liang@okstate.edu), and Shanhe Jiang (fx6954@wayne.edu)

Greater China has been an emerging term for the past several decades, yet few studies have systematically examined and compared the nature and pattern of crime and punishment across different Chinese societies in this terminology. This special issue will examine the existence and availability of crime and punishment data (both official and unofficial), long and short-term trends in crime rates, as well as special correction programs in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and mainland China. The main goal of this special issue is to identify existing databases in each Chinese society given their unique history and culture and critically reflect upon the utility of such databases in research and practice, thus reducing barriers and facilitating comparative analyses of crime and punishment in Greater China. 

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Plural Policing in the Global South: Navigating Hybridity and Security Partnerships (May 2026)
Call for Papers
Co-Editors:  Danielle Watson (danielle.watson@qut.edu.au) and Francis Boateng (fboateng@olemiss.edu)

This special issue seeks original contributions on plural policing in the Global South. We welcome papers that highlight variances in law and order maintenance arrangements, primarily in contexts where state policing is recognized as an adapted colonial import that exists alongside local and indigenous governance mechanisms, which at times exist parallel or in conflict with each other. Primary consideration will be given to empirical papers that explore plural policing and one of the following: globalization, legitimacy, hybridity, security privatization or non-conformity with colonial ideas about policing in former colonies. We also welcome theoretical contributions that provide insight into scholarly acknowledgement of an ideological shift away from the recognition of state police serving as the sole stakeholder organization with a responsibility for maintaining law, order and peaceful communities across diverse spaces in the Global South context.

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