ABSTRACT
Over the last decade International Criminal Justice has assumed unprecedented significance, in theory, policy and practice. Criminology presents a terminological quagmire to the neophyte. It is therefore wise to begin with some brief preliminary remarks by way of initial orientation. Criminology's disciplinary constitution and boundaries are themselves the subjects of endless debates, not to say periodic internecine strife and angst. The labelling theorists and symbolic interactionists, who dominated American and later, British — criminology in the 1960s and 1970s, made decisive theoretical progress in characterizing criminalization as an active process of social construction and ongoing political influence. The early adventures of an internationalizing criminology exhibit all the limitations and loose ends to be expected of pioneering, experimental scholarship. Nor will criminological insight guarantee policy success. Yet, conversely, ignorance of all that criminology potentially has to offer greatly shortens the odds on failure.
