In recent years, the concept of objectivity has been subject to much scrutiny across a spectrum of academic disciplines including philosophy, history of science and historical criminology. Some of this scholarship challenges the traditional approach to epistemology which sees objectivity in terms of uncovering and describing an independent reality, arguing instead that objectivity is temporally and culturally contingent and is created or performed rather than discovered. Notably, the history of objectivity has attracted considerable attention in the history of science (e.g. through the work of Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison) and is a familiar subject for historical enquiry in that field.1 However, an interest in objectivity is far from confined to the history of the development of scientific knowledge and analyses of crime history show that objectivity in relation to crime and criminals is subject to similar concerns over the culturally contingent nature of its construction.