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: ************************************************************ 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 cross‐national comparisons.
***************************************** 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.
***************************************** ISRD Project (November 2025) By Invitation Editor: Anna Markina (anna.markina@ut.ee)
***************************************** 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 programsin 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.
***************************************** 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.
This special issue will address the political, social, and economic determinants of violence. We encourage papers from a multitude of disciplines on how these determinants shape violence. Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodological approaches are acceptable. The papers should consider the interdisciplinary aspects of violence. A focus on how socio-political and socio-economic forces shape criminal justice, law and policy, and public health is requested. A discussion of the administration of law and policy responses to violence in addition to political, social, and economic determinants is also appropriate. We will accept research papers, commentaries, and theoretical contributions.
Initial abstracts (1 page, 12 point font, 1 inch margins) should be sent to Lisa Gittner (lisa.gittner@ttuhsc.edu) and are due February 1, 2025 with acceptance notification to develop a full paper by March 1, 2025.
*********************************************************************************************** Cryptocurrency Fraud and Criminal Opportunities (November 2026) Call for Papers Co-Editors: Brandon Dulisse (Bdulisse@ut.edu), Nathan Connealy (Nconnealy@ut.edu), and Matthew Logan (mwl39@txstate.edu)
This special issue focuses on research and theory regarding new waves of currency and investment fraud, namely cryptocurrency, NFT (non-fungible token), and others. The papers will consider the criminal opportunities, structure, victims, and/or cost of such crimes. Papers will be a mix of theoretical and empirical pieces using a variety of methodologies.
We are soliciting manuscripts that examine cryptocurrency and other speculative investment crime, with primary consideration given to submissions that feature original, empirical work employing a multiple methods or mixed methods format. Manuscripts considered for this special issue may focus on a variety of topics, including (but not limited to); (a) the motivation to engage in cryptocurrency fraud and other types of currency and speculative investment fraud, (b) the structure/organization of such criminal enterprises, (c) what these criminal opportunities look like, (d) the impact and make-up of victims of these types of fraud, (e) the socioeconomic impact of these types of fraud. The special issue is especially welcoming of interdisciplinary perspective on these topics, and all research examining cryptocurrency fraud are welcome subjects of discourse for the special issue. All submitted manuscripts should seek to advance theory, and feature key implications for policy and practice.
All submitted manuscripts will be peer reviewed. An abstract of approximately 100 words must accompany the manuscript. Manuscripts must be 30 pages or less, double-spaced, including the abstract, references, and all figures and tables. Manuscripts should be received no later than July 1, 2026. Please send two electronic copies of the manuscript: one complete version (with a cover page containing the author’s name, title, institutional affiliation with complete address, email and phone contact information; acknowledgments; research grant information), and one blind copy with all identifying information removed to facilitate blind peer review, to Brandon Dulisse (Bdulisse@ut.edu). Manuscripts should be in MS Word format and conform to the formatting style of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
*************************************************** Innovation and Extension of Situational Crime Prevention (February 2027) By Invitation Co-Editors: Emily Greene-Colozzi Emily_GreeneColozzi@uml.edu; Joshua Freilich jfreilich@jjay.cuny.edu
This special issue will highlight theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented expansion of Clarke’s (1985) situational crime prevention (SCP) perspective and related environmental criminology approaches. SCP is a dynamic and practitioner-friendly environmental criminology perspective that emphasizes situational opportunity over criminal motive or disposition. Since its introduction into criminology and crime science, SCP has undergone empirical testing and theoretical extension (e.g., Wortley, 2005) across a multitude of disciplines and has been implemented in real-world scenarios. We invite submissions focused on policy innovation, empirical testing, or theoretical advancement and integration with traditional criminology of SCP or its related EC perspectives (including rational choice perspective, routine activity theory, situational action theory).
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