This book provides an account of the opportunities and problems inherent in comparative research on crime and punishment. The authors review and synthesise what is a varied and largely unfocused literature of existing comparative criminological research and argue for the importance of the historico-cultural approach to understanding. Using case-study material on 'policy-learning' and regions (for example, Greater China), the book also illustrates how as ideas move across borders, they are adjusted to specific local conditions. Overall, the authors seek to encourage reflection on how, and in what ways, crime and punishment are embedded in changing local and international contexts.