Comparative Criminal Justice

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Comparative Criminal Justice

• Theoretical Issues

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QUESTIONS

• Theoretically, if we consider crime from the
  perspectives of crime
• as a social phenomenon (crime types/crime rates)
• and crime as a social behavior (behavior
  patterns) -
• How do we explain domestic crime
  cross-nationally?
• How do we explain transnational crime?

3
Major Issues

• There are over 268 geographic entities in the
  world, 192 of which are classified as independent
  states. An independent state refers to people
  who are politically organized into a sovereign
  state with a definite territory.
• In addition, there are seventy-six dependencies
  or areas of special sovereignty that are
  associated with an independent state, i.e.,
  Puerto Rico and Hong Kong.
• There are more nations than independent
  sovereign states. Nations can be any group with
  a common, cultural, ethnic, racial, or religious
  identity, i.e., Native Americans in North
  America.
• Each of the above have their own unique system of
  law and justice.

4
Globalization

• Globalization is a term used to describe how the
  world has become interdependent in terms of the
  events and the actions of people and government
• around the world.
• Therefore,
• crime is now international, transnational,
• and worldwide in scope.

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QUESTIONS

• Will globalization create increased inequalities
• both within
• and across societies?

• How will globalization affect the following
  concepts?
• Migration
• Marginalization
• Culture Conflict
• Labeling/Stereotyping
• Assimilation
• Sovereignty
• Internal Colonialism
• Anomie

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Potential Domestic/Global Theories

• Conflict Theory Class differentials produce an
  ecology of human behavior that favors the wealthy
  and powerful over the poor and weak.
• Marxist Theory Because economic competition is
  the essence of capitalism, it has a destabilizing
  effect on social institutions and social life.
• Strain/Anomie Theory People who adopt the goals
  of society, i.e., material and status, but lack
  the means to attain them seek alternatives, such
  as crime.
• Culture Deviance Theory Obedience to the norms
  of their lower-class culture puts people in
  conflict with the norms of the dominant culture
  when added to the perspectives of deprived
  opportunity or social disorganization of
  transitional neighborhoods it creates the concept
  of culture conflict.

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QUESTIONS

• Can a singular theoretical construct
• explain criminality and crime rates
• within and across
• nations or independent states?
• Does tradition, time and context play a role
• when determining comparative theoretical issues?

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Grand Theories

• Grand theories assume that a single theoretical
  construct has a significant impact on a nations
  crime rate and crime types. Examples include
• Modernization theories Social process
  accompanying industrial development have resulted
  in conditions conducive to increased criminality,
  i.e., family breakdown.
• Civilization theories Uses a historical
  approach to show a link between crime and
  civility does crime increase with civility,
  i.e., murder, suicide, or drug use?

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Grand Theories(contd)

• World system theories Uses a political approach
  to show that as capitalism expands, it disrupts
  indigenous cultures and traditional means of
  subsistence.
• Opportunity theories Modern economies and
  social organization provide increased
  opportunities to engage in criminal behavior,
  i.e., less guardianship.

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QUESTION

• Will theory help us compare differences in crime
  types or occurrence (i.e., crime as a social
  phenomenon) or, our understanding of criminal
  behavior (i.e., crime as a social behavior)?