New ECOH Interview: Katja Franko

Katja Franko is a Professor of criminology at the University of Oslo and a leading figure in various subfields, such as global criminology and border criminology. She has made pivotal contributions in other areas as well, such as the sociology of knowledge and technology and the criminal justice system. Having been recently given the Thorsten Sellin & Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck Award of the American Society of Criminology, Franko’s publications have also been institutionally recognised by prizes awarded by the British Journal of Criminology and the Socio-Legal Studies Association.

Katja Franko was interviewed for the European Criminology Oral History (ECOH) project by her University of Oslo colleague and co-author David R. Goyes. In this conversation, which was recorded in the ESC conference held in Florence in September 2023, Franko shares her reflections on a wide number of critical topics, crucially among them the development of Norwegian criminology, its changes over the last three decades, its marked focus on international debates, and the former impact of critical criminology. More generally, the Slovenian-Norwegian scholar ponders over the identity of criminology as an academic discipline and the main features of European criminology, including its fragmentation and potential specialisation. In addition, Franko and Goyes talk about several topics that have recurrently surfaced in Franko’s research, such as globalisation and criminology, technologies, migration and the conditions of knowledge production.