Criminology in Europe

In 2018, the European Society of Criminology (ESC) had 1,198 members, of which 22% were students. The 18th Annual Meeting of the Society took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 29 August to 1 September 2018 and attracted 1,203 participants, of which 74% were ESC members.

It has become a tradition that conference organisers are asked to briefly summarise the state of the art of criminology in their country. Although Belgium is a rather small and relatively young nation, it has a long and rich historical tradition of criminological research. In fact, research topics which today would fall under the wide umbrella of criminological research were imported from Belgium’s neighbouring countries as soon as the Belgian nation-state emerged.

The new ESC Working Group, ‘European Violence Monitor’ (EViMo), established in December 2018, will gather engaging scientists in order to discuss and study violence by using a truly innovative and comparative approach.

Dr. Aleksandras Dobryninas is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Criminology at the Institute of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University. Graduating from Vilnius University as a mathematician (1977), he holds doctoral degrees in Philosophy (1985) and Sociology (habilitation procedure, 2005).