Comparative Criminal Justice Systems

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Comparative Criminal Justice Systems

• AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
• CHAPTER ONE
• Reichel

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Comparative Criminal Justice

• A systematic study which involves investigating,
  evaluating, and comparing
• the criminal justice processes of more
• than one country, culture, or institution.

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QUESTIONS

• How can studying
• foreign criminal justice systems
• help us understand our own system?
• What is ethnocentrism?
• How does ethnocentrism affect ones attitude when
  comparing different systems?

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Benefits of an International Perspective

• It helps to understand ones own system of
  justice and to broaden our understanding of the
  world.
• It helps to furnish ideas to improve that system,
  i.e., mediation.
• It allows for cooperative efforts between border
  countries, i.e., globalization - transnational
  crime.
• It allows for multinational cooperation, i.e.,
  Interpol.

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QUESTIONS

• What is the framework
• of the European Union?
• What role does the
• European Commission play?
• What are some ways in which EU countries
  cooperate to enhance a
• supranational justice space?

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Approaches to an International Perspective

• Historical Approach
• Political Approach
• Descriptive Approach

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Historical Approach

• What mistakes and successes have already
  occurred?
• What do earlier experiences tell us about the
  present?
• How can knowledge of the past prepare us for the
  future?

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Political Approach

• How does politics affect a nations justice
  system?
• How does politics affect interaction among
  nations?
• How is a countrys legal tradition affected by
  politics?

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Descriptive Approach

• How is a countrys justice system supposed to
  operate?
• What are the main components of a justice system?
• Who are the main actors in a justice system?

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Classification Strategies

• Synthetic Strategies
• Authentic Strategies

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Synthetic Strategies

• Results in artificial groups
• Is based on only one or two aspects of the object
• Resulting classification has a practical or
  special purpose that brings order to diversity

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Authentic Strategies

• Results in natural groups
• Is based on extensive study of the object
• Resulting classification allows some predictivity
  regarding the groups members

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QUESTION

• Tradition, change, and context
• How do these concepts apply to a comparative
  study of justice systems?