Comparative Criminal Justice Systems

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Comparative Criminal Justice Systems

• Dr. Mamdooh Abdelhameed (Ph.D., J.D)
• Professor of Police Science Law

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Chapter 1
An International Perspective
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An International Perspective

• Why Study the Legal System of Other Countries?
• Provincial Benefits of an
  International Perspective .
• Universal Benefits of an International
  Perspective .
• The Influence Of The Countrys Statue In
  Criminal Justice System.
• Historical Approach
• Political Approach
• Economy Approach .
• Social Approach .
• Geographic Approach.
• Demographics Approach ?
• Transportation Approach.
• Communications Approach.
• Comparison through Classification and descriptive
  .
• The Need for Classification .
• Classification Strategies .
• Descriptive strategies.

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Why Study the Legal System of Other Countries?

• . The study of criminal justice in other
  countries has specific benefits for our own
  justice system as well as for international
  relations -
• 1 ) Provincial Benefits of an International
  Perspective
• 2 ) Universal Benefits of an International
  Perspective

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1 ) Provincial Benefits of an International
Perspective

• Because an International Perspective is still new
  in American Criminal Justice Curricula.
• A comparative view allows us to understand
  better the dimension of our own system.
• An International Perspective can furnish ideas to
  improve our system , a technique used in one
  country to combat crime might be successfully
  adapted for use in another country.
• It is important to neighbor and multinational
  cooperation.

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2 ) Universal Benefits of an International
Perspective

• A global communications it is a small world .
• In addition, an international perspective can
  suggest ideas to improve our system.
• The presence and persistence of cross-national
  crimes including terrorism, hijacking, drug
  smuggling, and organized crime networks demand a
  cooperative international effort.
• Such an effort is aided when citizens of
  different countries are familiar with, and try to
  understand and respect, the institutions and
  procedures of other countries.

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Approaches to an International Perspective

• There are at least three ways to study different
  criminal justice system -
• 1) Historical Approach.
• 2) Political Approach.
• 3) Descriptive Approach.

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1) Historical Approach.

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

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2) 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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3) Descriptive Approach.

• How is 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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The Influence Of The Countrys Statue In Criminal
Justice System

• Political Statue ?

Social Statue
Economy Statue ?
Demographics Statue ?
Geographic Statue ?
Transportation Statue
Communications Statue
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Demographics Statue

• 1) the Ethnic Groups .
• 2 ) Population
• Population growth rate.
• Life expectancy at birth.
• Nationality.
• 3 ) languages
• How many ..

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Geographic Statue

• Location
• Weather or Climate
• Terrain
• Natural resources

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Economy Statue

• Labor force
• Labor force - by occupation
• Industries
• Industrial production growth rate
• Currency
• Exchange rates
• Fiscal year

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Political Statue

• Government type
• Capital
• Administrative divisions
• Legal system
• Suffrage
• Legislative branch
• Judicial branch

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Communications Statue

• Telephones - main lines in use
• Telephones - mobile cellular
• Internet country code
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
• Internet users

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Transportation Statue

• Railways
• Highways
• Waterways
• Ports and harbors
• Airports
• Heliports

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Social statue

• Customs and traditions.
• Religion.
• Literacy rate.
• Poverty line.

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Elements Of This Influence

• 1 - Hiring
• 2 - Working at some departments.
• 3 - Prevent some people from working at
  criminal justice fields.
• 4 - Lower level jobs
• 5 - More interest in political crimes than
  social crimes.
• 6 - Philosophy of police work .
• 7 - Police organization system ( Centralized or
  decentralized ).
• 8 - Various criminal justice departments .

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Chapter 2
Crime, Transnational Crime, and Justice
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Crime, Transnational Crime, and Justice

• How do domestic crime and transnational crime
  differ?
• What do comparative criminologists study?
• What do comparative criminal justice scholars
  study?
• What are the main problems when comparing crime
  data from two or more countries?
• What are some examples of transnational crime?

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How do domestic crime and transnational crime
differ?

• The domestic crime and transnational crime ,count
  assuming they were reported and recorded .
• Domestic crime and transnational crime provide
  the subject matter for the field of study known
  as comparative criminology.

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COMPARATIVE CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

• Comparative studies in crime and justice cover
  two areas -
• First is the area of comparative
  criminology for which interest is in the study of
  crime as a social phenomenon (the focus is more
  on the crime) and as social behavior (the focus
  is more on the offender).
• Second is comparative criminal
  justice with its interest in determining how
  various countries attempt to maintain social
  order and accomplish justice.

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• however, focuses on comparative criminology
  because
• 1) a complete understanding of a countys
  criminal justice system must include an
  appreciation of the countrys domestic crime and
  criminals.
• 2) the phenomenon of transnational crime propels
  much of todays multinational cooperation, it
  behooves comparative criminal justice to
  understand transnational crime and criminals.

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FRIST COMPARATIVE CRIMINOLOGY LOOKS AT CRIME AS
A SOCIAL PHENONMENON

• When comparative criminologists study crime as a
  social phenomenon, they try to identify
  commonalities and differences in crime patterns
  among divergent cultures.
• Criminologists seeking to compare crime in two or
  more countries encounter two primary problems
• The first is to ensure that crime
  data from different countries have been defined,
  reported, and recorded in a similar manner.
• The second is compiling crime data in
  a manner that allows researchers to conveniently
  compare many different countries.

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Comparing Similar Data

• 1) In the absence of a universally agreed upon
  definitions of what constitutes a particular
  crime.
• there is always the chance that data on
  a specific crime in two countries do not actually
  compare similar acts.

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• 2 ) Statistics are Political Statements
• The open announcement of a countrys
  crime statistics is often only after the
  information has been rigorously checked for both
  its validity and for the impression it creates.
  
• At times, countries have made crime data
  available to the United Nations survey but have
  not provided that information to their own
  citizens.

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• 3 ) Problems in Defining, Reporting, and
  Recording
• Types of crime that seem comparable
  are often not (e.g., comparisons of homicide are
  confounded by how deaths from drunken driving are
  recorded).
• Many crimes are not reported to the
  police.
• Some events reported and recorded as
  crimes may not actually be crimes, and some
  crimes reported are never officially recorded.
• Decisions to record crimes may be
  affected by concerns about job evaluation
  measures.

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• 4 ) Comparison Problems
• The structure and number of police
  personnel varies among the countries.
• Whereas some countries count crimes
  when the police become aware of them, others
  count crimes only when the police forward them
  for prosecution.

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• 5 ) Varying Social Features Affect Crime Rates
• Countries where telephones are more
  common tend to report a higher proportion of
  crime.
• Countries where household insurance
  is more developed report a higher proportion of
  crime.
• Countries where police forces use
  more advanced technology tend to find a higher
  proportion of actual crime.
• Countries with more available
  medical facilities may have lower homicide rates
  than countries with less accessible medical
  facilities.

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• 6 ) In addition to the problems presented by
  differences in legal definitions of crime,
  cross-national comparison of crime rates is
  hindered by the way crime is reported in
  countries.

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• 7 ) The willingness of victims to report crime is
  not the only factor affecting reporting rates.
• Also important are factors such as accessibility
  to police so a report can be made
• e.g.,
• the number of police stations or telephones,
• the level of insurance coverage available
• the level of trust that the public has for its
  police
• the greater the difference in social, economic,
  and political context between countries, it is to
  make any comparison of their crime rates. For
  example, different social norms.

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The result of all of this

• The result of all of this is that crime
  statistics probably tell us as much about a
  countrys justice organization as about its crime
  rate.

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Using Data Sets to Facilitate Comparison

• Several organizations are making available some
  key statistics on crime and justice in countries
  around the world.
• Especially important data sets today are those
  provided by
• Interpol,
• the Council of Europe,
• the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
  (UNDOC),
• and United Nations Interregional Crime and
  Justice Research Institute (UNICRI).
• the International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS),
  sponsored by UNICRI.

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Crime and victimization data

• The crime and victimization data available to
  comparative criminologists today provide a wealth
  of information.
• As long as the necessary methodological cautions
  are understood and accounted for, scholars and
  practitioners will be able to compare crime
  occurrence, crime trends, victimizations, and
  other topics of importance for a more complete
  understanding of domestic crime.
• As noted earlier, however, comparative
  criminology is also interested in advancing
  theoretical explanations of criminal behavior.
  Crime and victimization data are also necessary
  for that goal.

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SecondComparative Criminology Looks at Crime as
Social Behavior

• When looking at crime as social behavior,
  criminologists develop and test theories about
  crimes etiology that is, its causes, origins,
  and distribution.
• Traditionally, those theories have been used to
  understand domestic crime in a particular
  country.
• When theories about crime are developed and
  tested in or across two or more countries,
  criminology is more accurately called comparative
  criminology.

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• identify three general frameworks that are
  commonly employed as comparative criminologists
  attempt to explain the variation of crime rates
  among nations
• grand theories,
• structural theories,
• theories relying on demographic characteristics.

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• The crime and victim data sets are designed to
  measure the occurrence and reporting of criminal
  acts within a particular country.
• Comparative criminologists then use that
  information to identify similarities and
  differences in crime types and occurrence (i.e.,
  crime as a social phenomenon) or to extend our
  understanding of criminal behavior (i.e., crime
  as social behavior).
• The twenty-first century brought a new,
  non-domestic, type of crime to intrigue and
  challenge criminologists. These transnational
  crimes are not confined to national borders but
  have impact across many nations.

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Summary

• Comparative criminology and comparative criminal
  justice are separated fields of study with
  overlapping interests.
• This article focuses on comparative criminal
  justice and therefore it is especially interested
  in how the people and agencies in different
  countries go about accomplishing justice.
• All justice systems operate in the context of
  those activities that a government has identified
  as criminal and those persons who engage in that
  behavior.
• Criminology, more so than criminal justice,
  studies those crimes and criminals. Because
  criminology and criminal justice have some
  subject matter in common, it is appropriate for
  this comparative criminal justice article to par
  some attention to issues related to comparative
  criminology.

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• When comparative criminologists look at crime as
  a social phenomenon, they are trying to identify
  similarities and differences in crime patterns
  across countries.
• They must be very careful when doing this because
  there are no universally agreed upon ways to
  define, report, and record crime.
• However, with the cautious use of data sets that
  report crime and victimization rates from many
  countries, comparative criminologists are able to
  conduct research that can advance theoretical
  explanations for criminal behavior.
• Examples of the explanations offered when
  comparative criminologists look at crime as
  social behavior are those categorized as grand
  theories.

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• Traditionally comparative criminologists have
  studied domestic crime patterns and behavior.
  The globalization of crime has brought an
  increased interest in crime that crosses national
  borders.
• Comparative criminologists now find themselves
  studying such transnational crimes as money
  laundering, piracy, terrorism, and trafficking in
  persons.

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Chapter 3
Perspective on Criminal Law
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Perspective on Criminal Law

• WHAT TO LOOK FOR
• How are substantive criminal law and procedural
  criminal law different?
• What are the general characteristics of the major
  principles of substantive law?
• How do the crime control model and the due
  process model differ?
• What impact has the war on terrorism had on
  issues of safety and liberty?

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ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS OF JUSTICE SYTEMS

• Two problems need resolving before any society
  can implement an institutionalized pattern of
  criminal justice.
• 1) the laws must be delineated.
• 2) the manner of enforcement must be
  specified.
• The way a society revolves these problems
  involves the essential ingredients of any legal
  system.

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• An understanding of basic criminal law concepts
  is important for appreciating any countrys legal
  system.
• The two essential ingredients to any justice
  system are substantive law and procedural law.

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• The former concerns the definition of rules,
  whereas the latter specifies their enforcement.
• Substantive criminal law is made up of general
  characteristics that allow identification of some
  act as criminal and of major principles that
  determine whether a particular behavior is
  criminal.
• Procedural criminal law is implemented through
  wither a crime control model or a due process
  mode

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The Criminal Law
The Substantive Law
The Procedural Law
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The Substantive Law

• The first condition, requirements to qualify as a
  law, can be called the general characteristics of
  law.
• The second condition, determining whether a
  particular behavior is criminal, comprises the
  major principles of law.

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The Substantive Law
General Characteristics
Major Principles

• mens rea
• actus reus
• concurrence
• harm
• causation
• punishment
• legality

• Politically
• Specificity
• Uniformity
• Penal sanction

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the Procedural Law

• Just as we can analyze two aspects of the
  definition of laws, we can also bifurcate the
  manner in which the rules are implemented.
• The rules can be activated to emphasize
  repressing rule violation (crime control model)
  or to contain the systems level of intrusion in
  the citizens life (due process model).
• As Packer (1968) presents those two models, they
  are less bound to specific legal systems than are
  the characteristics and principles of criminal
  law.
• Therefore, the comments that follow about
  procedural law are applicable to a wider range of
  legal systems than is the following analysis of
  substantive law.

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the Procedural Law
Crime Control Model
Due Process Model
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1) Crime Control Model

• 1 - Assumes freedom is so important that every
  effort must be made to repress crime.
• 2 - Seeks to make decisions that will identify
  factual guilt.
• 3 - Follows rules that emphasize the repression
  of criminal activity.
• 4 - Emphasizes efficiency of action (i.e., speed
  and finality).
• 5 - Requires a high rate of apprehension and
  conviction by early exclusion of those not likely
  to by guilty.

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2) Due Process Model

• 1 - Assumes freedom is so important that every
  effort must be made to ensure that government
  intrusion follows legal procedure.
• 2 - Seeks to make decisions that will identify
  legal guilt.
• 3 - Follows rules that emphasize containing the
  governments level of intrusion into citizens
  lives.
• 4 - Emphasizes legitimacy of action.
• 5 - Insists on a formal, adjudicative,
  adversarial fact-finding process, even though
  such restraints may keep the process from
  operating with maximal efficiency.

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• Each model seeks to guarantee social freedom.
  One does so by emphasizing efficient processing
  of wrongdoers, whereas the other emphasizes
  effective restrictions on government invasion in
  the citizens life.
• The crime control model asks who is the greater
  threat to our freedom, the criminal trying to
  harm us or our property?
• The due process model answers that government
  agents such as police officers and prosecutors
  are the threat.
• Although each of these models seeks to ensure the
  social freedom of citizens, they emphasize
  different, and often conflicting, ways to achieve
  that goal.

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Chapter 4
Legal Traditions