Overview

The International Centre for Comparative Criminology (CICC), established in 1969 through a scientific partnership between the Université de Montréal and the International Society of Criminology, transitioned in 2016 into an interuniversity research center affiliated with both the Université de Montréal and the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. This transformation was driven by the steady increase in the number of affiliated researchers and the innovative nature of its research themes (e.g., forensic science, judicial neuroscience, virtual reality). In 2024, Université Laval also joined as a partner institution.. The ICCC is also a group funded by the Research groups program of the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture. This program is intended to fund large research groups and was designed as a privileged instrument for structuring research.

The ICCC aims to bring together a group of experts in the interdisciplinary study of crime, as well as the processes for regulating criminal behaviour, and the intervention methods deployed by public, private, and community institutions in response. The ICCC is the only centre in Quebec focused on the comprehensive study of crime, control, and security.

Combining the research efforts of 64 regular researchers from seven Quebec-based universities (Université de Montréal; Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières; Université Laval; Université du Québec à Montréal; McGill University; Université du Québec en Outaouais; HEC Montréal), one college (Collège de Maisonneuve), and four public or parapublic organizations (Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal; Équijustice; École nationale de police du Québec; Centre de recherche universitaire sur les jeunes et les familles), the centre is made up of the largest and most productive cluster of experts in Canada for this field of study.

Beyond its regular membership, the ICCC also includes 106 collaborators from the province of Quebec, Canada, and the rest of the world (Brazil, Cyprus; United States; France; Switzerland; Italy; Spain; United Kingdom; Netherlands; Australia; South Africa), who participate in both our research and the dissemination of these projects’ results. Holding doctoral degrees in various fields, including criminology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, law, philosophy, political science, forensic sciences, and biochemistry, these regular researchers and collaborators together continue to provide the interdisciplinary foundation central to the ICCC’s creation fifty years ago.

Five research chairs are currently affiliated with the ICCC: 1) the Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity (Benoît Dupont); 2) the Canada Research Chair on the Government Provision of Public Goods (Decio Coviello); 3) the Research Chair in Cybercrime Prevention (Benoît  Dupont); 4) the Research Chair in Social Reintegration of Offenders (Elsa Euvrard); and 5) a McGill University William Dawson Scholar (Marie Manikis).

In 2014, the ICCC also obtained a NCE Knowledge Mobilization (NCE-KM) Initiative grant for the creation of the Smart Cybersecurity Network (SERENE-RISC), a knowledge mobilization network (directed by Benoît Dupont) whose goal is to enable people to protect themselves against cyber threats and to minimize any resulting consequences.

The ICCC researchers’ scientific leadership and contribution to the advancement of knowledge is reflected in their productive publishing record (37 books, 374 peer-reviewed articles, 152 book chapters, and 62 research reports published between 2017 and 2019). The centre’s members also accord great importance to collaborating with a wide array of practice settings, who communicate their needs, share rich empirical data for study, and help generate numerous knowledge transfer activities.