Comparative Criminal Justice Systems
- LAST REVIEWED: 14 March 2016
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 July 2016
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0075
- LAST REVIEWED: 14 March 2016
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 July 2016
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0075
Introduction
Research on comparative criminal justice systems focuses on the various ways political units attempt to maintain social order and accomplish justice. It is distinguished from comparative criminology, which focuses on crime patterns in two or more cultures and on testing—at the international level—theories about crime. It is also distinguished from comparative law, which includes private law and administrative law, as well as criminal law. When the focus is on the policies, practices, institutions, agencies, and people responsible for identifying, prosecuting, adjudicating, and punishing criminal law violators, criminal justice systems research is being done. It is comparative criminal justice systems research when two or more countries or legal systems are compared and contrasted. It is also common to consider the study of the legal system of a country other than one’s home country as being comparative criminal justice systems research. This guide to sources includes contributions helpful to research endeavors regarding the legal tradition into which particular legal systems might fall (see Comparing Legal Traditions), research that compares features among specific countries or regions (see Comparing Countries), or studies of specific procedures used in various countries (see Comparing Justice Procedures).
General Overviews
Interest in comparative criminal justice studies has increased during the last several decades, and one result is the publishing of general texts that provide overviews of the field. Newman 1999 provides broad coverage of both comparative criminology and comparative criminal justice, whereas Dammer and Albanese 2014 and Terrill 2013 are textbooks designed to give both undergraduate and graduate students information about all aspects of the legal system in select countries. Rather than comparing specific countries, Reichel 2013 compares the key aspects of criminal justice systems (e.g., law, police, courts, corrections) by showing how each aspect operates in various countries. Internet sources are increasing popular in this area, and the Hauser Global Law School Program website is an especially good example of easy access to relevant sources with links to specific items. The increased availability of Internet sources devoted, at least in part, to comparative criminal justice is reflected in their appearance throughout this article.
Dammer, Harry R., and Jay S. Albanese. 2014. Comparative criminal justice systems. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
The revision of this best-selling book presents a comprehensive analysis of how various criminal justice systems throughout the world compare. Harry Dammer has extensively revised the text to reflect the latest trends and most up-to-date information on international juvenile justice, policing, and terrorism. By using a topical approach (examining various aspects of each system, such as policing, drugs, sentencing, and juvenile justice) rather than a country-by-country approach, the book gives students a more realistic understanding of the similarities and differences of each system. The authors use six “model” countries (China, England, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and France) to provide specific examples and explore historical, political, economic, social, and cultural influences on each system.
Hauser Global Law School Program.
From this index page, find options for “Comparative Law Research” (then select “comparative criminal procedure”) and “Foreign Law Research” (with links to legal and justice system information on more than 130 countries). Other links to “International Law Research” and “Tools for Building Foreign, Comparative and International Law Collections” are also helpful.
Newman, Graeme R., ed. 1999. Global report on crime and justice. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
This report offers a history of the collection of criminal statistics at an international level. Crime trends and the operation of criminal justice systems are provided on a comparative basis, and emerging developments in crime and justice around the world are considered.
Reichel, Philip L. 2013. Comparative criminal justice systems: A topical approach. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson.
This book examines systems of law, police, courts, and corrections by using more than thirty different countries to show the diversity in legal systems around the world. This edition features more complete coverage of the Islamic legal tradition and information on reform in Japan and makes greater use of primary sources.
Terrill, Richard J. 2013. World criminal justice systems: A survey. 8th ed. Waltham, MA: Anderson.
Provides detailed information on the government, police, judiciary, law, corrections, and juvenile justice in six of the world’s most industrialized countries: England, France, Sweden, Russia, China, and Japan. Includes a chapter on Islamic law that uses Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey as main examples.
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Article
- Active Offender Research
- Actus Reus
- Adler, Freda
- Adversarial System of Justice
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Aging Prison Population, The
- Airport and Airline Security
- Alcohol and Drug Prohibition
- Alcohol Use, Policy and Crime
- Alt-Right Gangs and White Power Youth Groups
- Animals, Crimes Against
- Anomie
- Arson
- Art Crime
- Back-End Sentencing and Parole Revocation
- Bail and Pretrial Detention
- Batterer Intervention Programs
- Bentham, Jeremy
- Big Data and Communities and Crime
- Biosocial Criminology
- Blackmail
- Black's Theory of Law and Social Control
- Blumstein, Alfred
- Boot Camps and Shock Incarceration Programs
- Burglary, Residential
- Bystander Intervention
- Capital Punishment
- Chambliss, William
- Chicago School of Criminology, The
- Child Maltreatment
- Chinese Triad Society
- Civil Protection Orders
- Collateral Consequences of Felony Conviction and Imprisonm...
- Collective Efficacy
- Commercial and Bank Robbery
- Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
- Communicating Scientific Findings in the Courtroom
- Community Change and Crime
- Community Corrections
- Community Disadvantage and Crime
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- Community-Based Substance Use Prevention
- Comparative Criminal Justice Systems
- CompStat Models of Police Performance Management
- Confessions, False and Coerced
- Conservation Criminology
- Consumer Fraud
- Contextual Analysis of Crime
- Control Balance Theory
- Convict Criminology
- Co-Offending and the Role of Accomplices
- Corporate Crime
- Costs of Crime and Justice
- Courts, Drug
- Courts, Juvenile
- Courts, Mental Health
- Courts, Problem-Solving
- Crime and Justice in Latin America
- Crime, Campus
- Crime Control Policy
- Crime Control, Politics of
- Crime, (In)Security, and Islam
- Crime Prevention, Delinquency and
- Crime Prevention, Situational
- Crime Prevention, Voluntary Organizations and
- Crime Trends
- Crime Victims' Rights Movement
- Criminal Career Research
- Criminal Decision Making, Emotions in
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- Criminal Justice Ethics
- Criminal Justice Fines and Fees
- Criminal Justice Reform, Politics of
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- Criminal Records
- Criminal Retaliation
- Criminal Talk
- Criminology and Political Science
- Criminology of Genocide, The
- Critical Criminology
- Cross-National Crime
- Cross-Sectional Research Designs in Criminology and Crimin...
- Cultural Criminology
- Cultural Theories
- Cybercrime
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- Cycle of Violence
- Day Fines
- Deadly Force
- Defining "Success" in Corrections and Reentry
- Desistance
- Deterrence
- Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
- Digital Piracy
- Driving and Traffic Offenses
- Drug Control
- Drug Trafficking, International
- Drugs and Crime
- Elder Abuse
- Electronically Monitored Home Confinement
- Employee Theft
- Environmental Crime and Justice
- Experimental Criminology
- Extortion
- Family Violence
- Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk
- Felon Disenfranchisement
- Femicide
- Feminist Theories
- Feminist Victimization Theories
- Fencing and Stolen Goods Markets
- Firearms and Violence
- Forensic Science
- For-Profit Private Prisons and the Criminal Justice–Indust...
- Fraud
- Gambling
- Gangs, Peers, and Co-offending
- Gender and Crime
- Gendered Crime Pathways
- General Opportunity Victimization Theories
- Genetics, Environment, and Crime
- Green Criminology
- Halfway Houses
- Harm Reduction and Risky Behaviors
- Hate Crime
- Hate Crime Legislation
- Healthcare Fraud
- Hirschi, Travis
- History of Crime in the United Kingdom
- History of Criminology
- Homelessness and Crime
- Homicide
- Homicide Victimization
- Honor Cultures and Violence
- Hot Spots Policing
- Human Rights
- Human Trafficking
- Identity Theft
- Immigration, Crime, and Justice
- Incarceration, Mass
- Incarceration, Public Health Effects of
- Income Tax Evasion
- Institutional Anomie Theory
- Integrated Theory
- Intermediate Sanctions
- Interpersonal Violence, Historical Patterns of
- Interrogation
- Intimate Partner Violence, Criminological Perspectives on
- Intimate Partner Violence, Police Responses to
- Investigation, Criminal
- Juvenile Delinquency
- Juvenile Justice System, The
- Kidnapping
- Kornhauser, Ruth Rosner
- Labeling Theory
- Labor Markets and Crime
- Land Use and Crime
- Lead and Crime
- Legitimacy
- LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence
- LGBTQ People in Prison
- Life Without Parole Sentencing
- Local Institutions and Neighborhood Crime
- Lombroso, Cesare
- Longitudinal Research in Criminology
- Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
- Mapping and Spatial Analysis of Crime, The
- Mass Media, Crime, and Justice
- Measuring Crime
- Mediation and Dispute Resolution Programs
- Mental Health and Crime
- Merton, Robert K.
- Meta-analysis in Criminology
- Middle-Class Crime and Criminality
- Migrant Detention and Incarceration
- Money Laundering
- Motor Vehicle Theft
- Multi-Level Marketing Scams
- Murder, Serial
- Narrative Criminology
- National Deviancy Symposia, The
- Nature Versus Nurture
- Neighborhood Disorder
- Neutralization Theory
- New Penology, The
- Offender Decision-Making and Motivation
- Offense Specialization/Expertise
- Organized Crime
- Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs
- Panel Methods in Criminology
- Peacemaking Criminology
- Peer Networks and Delinquency
- Performance Measurement and Accountability Systems
- Personality and Trait Theories of Crime
- Persons with a Mental Illness, Police Encounters with
- Phenomenological Theories of Crime
- Plea Bargaining
- Poaching
- Police Administration
- Police Cooperation, International
- Police Discretion
- Police Effectiveness
- Police History
- Police Militarization
- Police Misconduct
- Police, Race and the
- Police Use of Force
- Police, Violence against the
- Policing and Law Enforcement
- Policing, Body-Worn Cameras and
- Policing, Broken Windows
- Policing, Community and Problem-Oriented
- Policing Cybercrime
- Policing, Evidence-Based
- Policing, Intelligence-Led
- Policing, Privatization of
- Policing, Proactive
- Policing, School
- Policing, Stop-and-Frisk
- Policing, Third Party
- Polyvictimization
- Positivist Criminology
- Pretrial Detention, Alternatives to
- Pretrial Diversion
- Prison Administration
- Prison Classification
- Prison, Disciplinary Segregation in
- Prison Education Exchange Programs
- Prison Gangs and Subculture
- Prison History
- Prison Labor
- Prison Visitation
- Prisoner Reentry
- Prisons and Jails
- Private Security
- Probation Revocation
- Procedural Justice
- Property Crime
- Prosecution and Courts
- Prostitution
- Psychiatry, Psychology, and Crime: Historical and Current ...
- Psychology and Crime
- Public Criminology
- Public Opinion, Crime and Justice
- Public Order Crimes
- Public Social Control and Neighborhood Crime
- Punishment Justification and Goals
- Qualitative Methods in Criminology
- Queer Criminology
- Race and Sentencing Research Advancements
- Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice
- Racial Threat Hypothesis
- Racial Profiling
- Rape and Sexual Assault
- Rape, Fear of
- Rational Choice Theories
- Rehabilitation
- Religion and Crime
- Restorative Justice
- Risk Assessment
- Routine Activity Theories
- School Bullying
- School Crime and Violence
- School Safety, Security, and Discipline
- Search Warrants
- Seasonality and Crime
- Self-Control, The General Theory:
- Self-Report Crime Surveys
- Sentencing Enhancements
- Sentencing, Evidence-Based
- Sentencing Guidelines
- Sentencing Policy
- Sex Crimes
- Sex Offender Policies and Legislation
- Sex Trafficking
- Sexual Revictimization
- Situational Action Theory
- Snitching and Use of Criminal Informants
- Social and Intellectual Context of Criminology, The
- Social Construction of Crime, The
- Social Control of Tobacco Use
- Social Control Theory
- Social Disorganization
- Social Ecology of Crime
- Social Learning Theory
- Social Networks
- Social Threat and Social Control
- Solitary Confinement
- South Africa, Crime and Justice in
- Sport Mega-Events Security
- Stalking and Harassment
- State Crime
- State Dependence and Population Heterogeneity in Theories ...
- Strain Theories
- Street Code
- Street Robbery
- Substance Use and Abuse
- Surveillance, Public and Private
- Sutherland, Edwin H.
- Technology and the Criminal Justice System
- Technology, Criminal Use of
- Terrorism
- Terrorism and Hate Crime
- Terrorism, Criminological Explanations for
- Testimony, Eyewitness
- Therapeutic Jurisprudence
- Trajectory Methods in Criminology
- Transnational Crime
- Truth-In-Sentencing
- Urban Politics and Crime
- US War on Terrorism, Legal Perspectives on the
- Victimization, Adolescent
- Victimization, Biosocial Theories of
- Victimization Patterns and Trends
- Victimization, Repeat
- Victimization, Vicarious and Related Forms of Secondary Tr...
- Victimless Crime
- Victim-Offender Overlap, The
- Violence Against Women
- Violence, Youth
- Violent Crime
- White-Collar Crime
- White-Collar Crime, The Global Financial Crisis and
- White-Collar Crime, Women and
- Wilson, James Q.
- Wolfgang, Marvin
- Women, Girls, and Reentry
- Wrongful Conviction