We live in the age of international crime, but when did it begin? In the last decades of the nineteenth century, Great Britain confronted crime problems believed to have originated beyond its borders. In a world tied together by inter-continental railways, undersea telegraph cables, and ocean-going steamships, trouble in 'far away' places jeopardised domestic pursuits. London was feared to have become the centre of professional thievery, alien criminality, the white slave trade and anarchist bomb plots. The problems were even bigger, or so it seemed, than the biggest empire. Representatives from Britain met with counterparts from Germany, France, and the United States for a series of international conferences . They discussed causes and strategies, but could not always agree about solutions. A new profession also emerged, the criminologists, who claimed to have discovered in science a universal means of crime prevention.

List of Figures
Introduction
Technology
Empire
Alien Criminality
White Slavery
Anarchist Outrages
The Criminologists
Index

PAUL KNEPPER is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, UK and Visiting Professor at the Institute of Criminology, University of Malta.