The Legacy of INTERPOL Crime Data to Cross-National Criminology

INTERPOL crime data constitute the oldest and most continuous cross-national data series available to criminologists. Recently, INTERPOL has decided to forego its data collection efforts. This paper, based on a systematic and extensive literature review, will examine how criminologists and other social scientists have used INTERPOL data to examine critical issues in the description and explanation of cross-national crime. It will end with a critical reflection on the contribution of INTERPOL data to our knowledge base, as well as the possibilities that exist for using other data sources to continue research in this area.