Same problems, different concepts and language: What happens when prison climate research goes on a journey?

Abstract

Despite the fact that they face the same problems, prison legislation differs between England and Germany. So do concepts and language. Can prison quality research travel under these circumstances? Are research questions and methodologies transferable from one legal culture into another? By using the example of a joint research project designed to transfer prison climate research from England and establish it in Germany and Switzerland we respond to the challenges of transferability and translatability. After examining the divergent legal cultures in England and Germany we present a prison climate research methodology developed by the Cambridge Prisons Research Centre (PRC). We then delineate the preparation, implementation and outcome of a pretest designed to show whether this cross-cultural research project can work. The concept of moral performance, and the methodology, seem to travel well while things are more complicated when it comes to translation.