Chapter 1

Question 1

Comparative Criminal Justice

Answer 1

Investigates and evaluates a national system of justice in terms of other countries, cultures, or institutions.

Examines strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to: crime, law, and justice around the world.

Question 2

International vs. Transnational Crimes

Answer 2

International:
Crimes against the peace and security of mankind. Based on international agreements between countries or legal precedents.

Transnational:
Offenses whose inception, acts, and impact involve more than one country. Usually involve provision of illicit goods or infiltration of business or government.

Some crimes fit both categories, like international drug trafficking. But the main difference: transnational crimes ALWAYS involve two or more countries.

Question 3

Why Compare Criminal Justice Issues and Systems?

Answer 3

1. To benefit from the experience of others. What we learn from other countries and how they deal with criminal justice issues helps us to develop solutions to problems related to crime. Correction strategies and rules of criminal procedure are some examples of this.
2. To broaden our understanding of different cultures and approaches to problems. Avoiding ethnocentrism- believing that one’s own country or culture does things right and all other practices are wrong.
3. To help us deal with the many transnational crime problems that effect our world today. Globalization- the world has become interdependent in terms of events and actions of people and governments around the world.

Question 4

Historical and Political Approach

Answer 4

Historical:
Practices of administering justice develop over centuries within countries in response to needs and historical events.

Political:
Criminal justice agencies are government institutions and reflect political decisions about law and the administration of justice.

Social and Economic:
Factors are also important in shaping administration of justice and they are often tied to both political and historical events.

Question 5

Political Culture vs. Politicized Culture

Answer 5

Political Culture - administration of justice is a governmental function and reflects the political culture of a nation.
Culture - patterns of behavior and thought that have developed over the course of a society’s history. Example: German political culture emphasizes legalism. Will reflect the same concerns in its justice system.

Politicized justice - involves perverting the judicial or criminal justice process to achieve particular political ends, usually to punish enemies of the regime in power or to deter others from joining those enemies. Example: the trials of Stalin’s Opponents In the Soviet Union.

Question 6

Independent vs. Sovereign State

Answer 6

Independent state - refers to people who are politically organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory. There are 192 independent states in the world.

Sovereign state - internationally recognized unit of political authority.

Question 7

Basic Values in Criminal Justice System

Answer 7

Professed Values - proclaimed as values by the participants in the system. Example: equal justice under the law.

Underlying Values: not openly proclaimed but nevertheless govern actions within the criminal justice system. Example: efficient handling of cases.

Question 8

Families of Law / Legal Traditions

Answer 8

Common Law - England
Civil Law - France and Germany
Socialist Law - China
Sacred Law - Saudi Arabia
Hybrid System - Japan

All modern legal systems are based at least partially on one or another of these historical arrangements.