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Robertson, Annete. The Significance of Language, Culture and Communication in Researching Post-Soviet Crime and Policing. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 22(2): 137-156.

This article considers some of the problems associated with studying crime and criminal justice in countries where the lingua franca is not the native language of the main researchers involved. It reviews some of the more salient difficulties facing nonnative researchers in conducting cross-national research and the various approaches used to mitigate any adverse implications for the research outcomes. In doing so, the article draws on existing literature and the author's own expertise as a translator and interpreter and experiences as a member of a research team conducting both primary and secondary criminological research in Russia. The intention is not to produce a technical how-to guide that deals exclusively with translation because translation is only one aspect of the linguistic problems facing international researchers. As the title of the article suggests, the focus is much broader than translation and encompasses notions of communication and culture.

Jaquier, Veronique, Bonnie S. Fisher, and Martin Killias. Cross-National Survey Designs: Equating the National Violence Against Women Survey and Swiss International Violence Against Women Survey. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 22(2): 90-112.

Valid and reliable cross-national estimates of rape are needed to more fully understand the extent and nature of these victimizations. Methodological issues that compromise the integrity of cross-national comparisons of self-report survey data have been identified. These issues have neither been systematically addressed, nor is there a consensus as to how to correct them. This article examines the effects that the definition and operationalization of rape have on completed and attempted rape estimates from the National Violence Against Women Survey in the United States and the Swiss component of the International Violence Against Women Survey. Survey design issues related to operationalizing the victim-offender relationship and its effect on rape estimates are discussed. Cross-national rape estimates with and without addressing the comparability issues are presented. The implications for engaging in comparative rape research are also discussed.

Paulsen, Derek J. To Map or Not to Map: Assessing the Impact of Crime Maps on Police Officer Perceptions of Crime. International Journal of Police Science & Management 6(4): 234-246.

An increasingly popular strategy within community oriented and problem oriented policing is to provide patrol officers with crime analysis information in the form of crime maps. The strategy is designed to encourage officers to use maps to determine problem areas within their beats and to modify their patrol strategies accordingly. Despite the promise of crime maps and GIS in general, no research has evaluated the use of crime maps by patrol officers. This paper assesses the effects of crime maps on officers' perceptions of crime patterns and their subsequent patrol activities. Results indicate that simply providing officers with maps of crime distributions will not alone improve their understanding of crime patterns within their jurisdiction. Moreover, in order to have any real impact on officer perception and subsequent police activities, agencies need to invest in training and infrastructure to allow the full capabilities of crime mapping to be realized. In addition to a discussion of the relevant findings, the article also discusses general problems associated with the implementation and use of crime mapping as well as future research aims.