Abstract
This essay has two ambitions. The first is to show that a transnational comparative perspective can be of value in identifying topics worth studying in criminology and criminal law as well as an important method of conducting such studies. The second aim is to use the comparative perspective and method to explore the topic of corruption, a pervasively important and distinctive behavioral phenomenon that is of critical importance in both developing and developed nations. A comparative perspective on corruption provides insight about the role of this peculiar form of crime in various cultures and stages of development (p. 809). Moreover, we also believe that a focus on corruption as a special category of crime helps to explain the passions and politics that have been involved in discourse on white-collar crime.
We thank the following for helpful commentary: Susan Rose-Ackerman, Richard Leo, Henry Pontell, Michael Tonry, Andrew Von Hirsch, JoséLuis Díez Ripollés, and the participants in the eighth annual Nigel Walker Lecture at Cambridge in May 2004. An earlier version of this paper was published in the British Journal of Criminology 45: 793 (2005).
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Zimring, F.E., Johnson, D.T. (2007). On the Comparative Study of Corruption. In: Pontell, H.N., Geis, G. (eds) International Handbook of White-Collar and Corporate Crime. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34111-8_22
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