About the Conference
Learn more about conference aim, background and committees.
The Biennial International Conference Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe addresses contemporary challenges in the field of criminal justice and security by encouraging the exchange of the latest views, concepts, and research findings from criminal justice and security studies among scientists, researchers, and practitioners from all over the globe. The aim of the conference is to highlight new ideas, theories, methods, and findings in a wide range of research and applied areas relating to policing, criminology, security issues, and social control issues. The conference strives for joint collaboration of different stakeholders in developing knowledge and experience that contribute to more secure and safe societies.
Aim of the conference
The primary aim of the 15th biennial Conference is to share the latest views, concepts, and research findings from criminal justice studies on security and criminology by scientists, researchers, and practitioners from around the world. The conference will highlight new ideas, theories, methods, and findings in a wide range of research and applied areas of contemporary policing, criminal justice and security.
Conference background
Starting in 1996 and reconvening for its fifteenth session in 2025 the Conference has focused on and dealt with a good many topical areas such as, Comparing Firsthand Knowledge with Experience from the West (1996), Organizational, Managerial, and Human-Resource Aspects (1998), Ethics, Integrity, and Human Rights (2000), Deviance, Violence and Victimization (2002), Dilemmas of Contemporary Criminal Justice (2004), Past, Present and Futures (2006), Social Control in Contemporary Society – Practice and Research (2008), Social Control of Unconventional Deviance (2010), Contemporary Criminal Justice Practice and Research (2012), Understanding Professionalism, Trust and Legitimacy (2014), Safety, Security and Social Control in Local Communities (2016), From Common Sense to Evidence-based Policy–making (2018), Perspectives of Rural and Urban Safety, Security and Rural Criminology (2021), and The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Rural and Urban Safety and Security Perspectives (2023). Hosting worldwide experts reaching far beyond the borders of Central and Eastern Europe, this event has earned a reputation for being an excellent criminological, criminal justice and security, and critical social science conference on social control in modern society. As a rule, participants’ contributions are published in English in scientific monographs and international journals.
Programme and organizing committee
Programmee and organizing committee co-chairs
Gorazd Meško, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Katja Eman, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Programmee and organizing committee members
Marcelo Aebi, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Igor Bernik, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Matt Bowden, Technological University Dublin, Ireland
Avi Brisman, Eastern Kentucky University, USA
Irena Cajner Mraović, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Algimantas Čepas, Law Institute of Lithuania, Lithuania
Sanja Čopić, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Joseph F. Donnermeyer, Ohio State University, USA
Anna Getoš Kalac, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Ivo Holc, Ministry of the Interior, Police, Slovenia
Ljubica Jelušič, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Senad Jušić, Ministry of the Interior, Police, Slovenia
Witold Klaus, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich, Michigan State University, USA
Miklós Lévay, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Michael Levi, Cardiff University, UK
Natalija Lukić, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Anna Markina, University of Tartu, Estonia
Kyle Mulrooney, University of New England, Australia
Elmedin Muratbegović, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina
Michael Reisig, Arizona State University, USA
Julian Roberts, University of Oxford, UK
Myunghoon Roh, Salve Regina University, USA
Andrej Rupnik, Institute DCAF, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ernesto Savona, Catholic University and Transcrime, Italy
Marina Sazdovska-Mališ, University of Bitola, North Macedonia
Kreseda Smith, Harper Adams University, UK
Nigel South, University of Essex, UK
Andrej Sotlar, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Bojan Tičar, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Andra Trandafir, University of Bucharest, Romania
David Wall, Leeds University, UK
Ralph Weisheit, Illinois State University, USA
Organising Committee
Rok Hacin, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Vanja Erčulj, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Barbara Erjavec, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Violeta Malić, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Aleksander Podlogar, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Anja Zahirović, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Ajda Šulc, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Previous conferences
- 1996
Comparing Firsthand Knowledge with Experience from the West - 1996
The first biennial Policing in Central and Eastern Europe conference, subtitled »Comparing Firsthand Knowledge with Experience from the West«, took place in November 1996. It gathered eighty-two authors from twenty-three countries from five continents. Sixty-four papers were published in a conference proceeding Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Comparing Firsthand Knowledge with Experience from the West. The conference proceedings were fully published on the NCJSR web page. - 1998
Organizational, Managerial, and Human Resource Aspects - 1998
The second Policing in Central and Eastern Europe conference, subtitled »Organizational, Managerial, and Human Resource Aspects«, took place in November 1998. Eighty authors from seventeen countries presented their papers at the conference. Fifty-three papers were published in a conference proceeding Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Organizational, Managerial, and Human Resource Aspects. - 2000
Ethics, Integrity, and Human Rights - 2000
The third Policing in Central and Eastern Europe conference, subtitled »Ethics, Integrity, and Human Rights«, took place in September 2000. Eighty-two authors from twenty countries presented fifty papers. The papers were published in a conference proceeding, Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Ethics, Integrity, and Human Rights. - 2002
Deviance, Violence and Victimization - 2002
The fourth Policing in Central and Eastern Europe conference, subtitled »Deviance, Violence and Victimization«, took place in September 2002. Eighty authors from sixteen countries presented sixty papers. The papers were published in a conference proceeding Policing in Central and Eastern Europe - Deviance, Violence and Victimization. - 2004
Dilemmas of Contemporary Criminal Justice - 2004
The fifth Policing in Central and Eastern Europe conference, subtitled »Dilemmas of Contemporary Criminal Justice« took place in September 2004. Ninety-three authors presented over a hundred papers. A conference proceeding, Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Dilemmas of Contemporary Criminal Justice, was fully published on the NCJSR web page. - 2006
Past, Present and Futures - 2006
The sixth Policing in Central and Eastern Europe conference, subtitled »Past, Present and Futures« took place in September 2006. Around a hundred papers were presented at the conference. A selection of the best papers was published in a special issue of the Journal of Criminal Justice and Security and in an edited book Policing in Emerging Democracies - Critical Reflections (2007). - 2008
Social Control in Contemporary Society - Practice and Research - 2008
The seventh Policing in Central and Eastern Europe conference, subtitled »Social Control in Contemporary Society - Practice and Research« was held in September 2008. Around seventy participants presented more than a hundred papers. A graduate student session was introduced to the conference for the first time. A selection of the best papers was published in the Policing – An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, issue 3, 2009 and in the Journal of Criminal Justice and Security. - 2010
Social Control of Unconventional Deviance - 2010
The eighth Policing in Central and Eastern Europe conference, subtitled »Social Control of Unconventional Deviance« was held in September 2010. Around a hundred participants presented ninety-eight papers. Plenary papers were published in the Journal of Criminal Justice and Security, issue 2010/4. Other papers were published in a peer-reviewed conference proceeding, Social Control of Unconventional Deviance, and in the Journal of Criminal Justice and Security, issue 2011/2. - 2012
Contemporary Criminal Justice Practice and Research - 2012
The ninth Policing in Central and Eastern Europe conference was renamed Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe (subtitled Contemporary Criminal Justice Practice and Research). The conference was held in Ljubljana in September 2012. Ninety participants presented eighty-eight papers. Papers were published in a conference proceeding, Journal of Criminal Justice and Security, issue 2013/2, and Revija za kriminalistiko in kriminologijo (Journal of Criminal Investigation and Criminology), issue 2013/3. - 2014
Understanding Professionalism, Trust and Legitimacy - 2014
The tenth conference Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe, subtitled Understanding Professionalism, Trust and Legitimacy was held in Ljubljana in September 2014. More than 100 participants form 17 countries attended the conference. Papers were published in the Journal of Criminal Justice and Security, issues 2014/4, 2015/1 and 2015/2. - 2016
Safety and Security and Social Control in Local Communities - 2016
The eleventh biennial conference Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe, subtitled Safety and Security and Social Control in Local Communities, was held in Ljubljana in September 2016. More than 100 participants from 18 countries attended the conference. Papers by 78 authors were published in conference proceedings and included in the Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index, and 13 papers by 34 authors were published in the Journal of Criminal Investigation and Criminology (Social Science Citation Index, Scopus, etc.). - 2018
From Common Sense to Evidence-based Policy–making - 2018
The twelfth biennial conference Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe, subtitled From Common Sense to Evidence-based Policy–making, was held in Ljubljana in September 2018. More than 130 participants from 15 countries attended the conference. The conference consisted of two plenary sessions, thirteen thematic sections and two roundtables where more than 60 contributions were presented together. The main topics discussed at the conference were: activities of national and international institutions for ensuring the safety of the population, analyzes of changes in the strengthening of control mechanisms, regional cooperation for the prevention of current threats in the Western Balkans, the deprivation of assets of unlawful origin, etc. 55 papers were published in conference proceedings, and four papers were published in the Journal of Criminal Investigation and Criminology (Social Science Citation Index, Scopus etc.). - 2021
Perspectives of Rural and Urban Safety, Security and Rural Criminology - 2021
The thirteenth biennial conference Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe, subtitled Perspectives of Rural and Urban Safety, Security and Rural Criminology (2021). Around 170 participants from all over the world attended the conference online. More than 70 contributions were presented. A roundtable on publishing in intentional journals was organised by the GI-TOC. The selected peer-reviewed papers were published in international journals. - 2023
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Rural and Urban Safety and Security Perspectives - 2023
The fourteenth biennial conference Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe, subtitled The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Rural and Urban Safety and Security Perspectives (2023). Around 120 participants from all over the world attended the conference online. More than 70 contributions were presented. Roundtables on Community policing and the Development of Criminology in Southeastern Europe and Rural Criminology were organised. The selected peer-reviewed papers on rural policing were published in international publications such as Policing – An International Journal and an edited book The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Provision of Security, Responses to Crime and Security Threats, and Fair Criminal Justice Systems.