Comparative Criminal Justice Systems

Comparative Criminal Justice investigates and evaluates a national system of justice in terms of other countries and cultures. Several authors pointed to the lack of serious recent work on comparative methodology. Many researchers therefore avoid comparative research. Therefore, the initial part deals with new and fresh approach that avoids the risk t? b? drowned in theoretical discussions, this Chapter is offering practical solution. The so-called ‘SPOCs & survey’-method consists of nominating a SPOC (short for a single point of contact) for the countries to be included in the comparative analysis and asking them to fill out a multiple choice based survey, complemented with free text fields and the option to request documents to be attached. The question arises which evidence should be used to support policy decisions. Criminal policy making is not solely based on evidence related to national experiences. The problems that the researcher encounters are language barriers, limited accessibility of up to date information and the risk of misinterpreting information due to an inadequate understanding of the specificities of the foreign criminal justice system.

Comparative Criminal Justice takes a descriptive, historical, or political approach. The functions of a criminal justice system are broadly categorized into policing, adjudication and corrections. Comparativists are trying to find the best solutions by observing international practice through space and time. They research solutions taken in other systems, searching for the best options for domestic law to evolve. In other words, they are trying to find out the causes and reasons of why some solutions are working in one environment and not in other. Interaction of national systems always lead to progress, which can be seen from the examples of Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the second, third and fourth Chapter, which is increasingly gaining in importance. But the countries does not need a supranational authority so that they would accept acknowledged, positive solutions from other countries. Perception of others will always be colored to some extent by our own cultural starting points – even when the researcher says that he is trying to learn the good examples. The field of comparative science is incredibly wide. One of the reasons is the fact that Comparative Criminal Law is trying to enable us to avoid mistakes of humanity from the past. Therefore the legal traditions are so important for comparative legal science.

Legal theories are important and numerous. Comparative legal sciences can bring much good if they are interpreted objectively and by using right methodology. The fifth Chapter brings out the basis of the legal systems that both designed the law of western hemisphere. After (Chapter 6) follows a scientific review from one of the countries whose law is based on the tradition of Civil law. It has been shown that decentralized peer-punishment can produce the second-order public good but often at a net cost for the group. These findings prompted scholars to invoke more organized forms of enforcement to explain cooperation, leaving the strategic nature of the punishment situation underexplored. They took a step back and showed that dissecting the second-order public good problem can reveal some interesting and hitherto understudied mechanisms of second-order public good provision. The Czech Tool for Assessment of Offenders is described in Chapter 7.

Another important aspect is certainly the punishment, finding the right way to preserve the real values and return to them, but to meet society's sense of justice, victims and their families, their suffered damage and injuries. From prison statistics we can learn a lot although many may find it superfluous, to be seen as giving attention to those who have caused damage to the society and individuals. But we need to know the reasons that push individuals to come to that point, but also the path to reintegrate those who are incarcerated to the society. One of the focal points of this science are prison systems and organizations. Chapters 8,9,10 are watching New South Wales, Tasmania and Australia prison systems. These countries apply for quiet and isolated, and therefore are always interesting for observation. Because they have fewer contacts with law and crime in neighboring countries and over border crime, so we can quickly recognize the causes and consequences.Then in the Chapter 11 we jump to the USA to take a note of a current global problem, prison overcrowding. Given that this is a burning issue in the United States the best data is comming from there. This is a theme, especially the private prison systems, which require the head of the separated book. So we give you just the basics.

Because comparative teachings deal with the problems in the whole world, South America deserves its representative also. We give you a Systematic review of time trends, prevalence rates and risk factors in Brazil in Chapter 12, and the Impact of Crime on Public Trust in Central American Justice System in Chapter 13. While in the Chapter 14 we will observe a practical question with the regard of Islamic law, another big and complex topic to which we owe reverence in one book such as this.

Is violent crime increasing or decreasing? This is the first question criminal researcher is asking himself, so we do so also in Chapter 15. This is a finding of an investigation using the Crime Survey for England and Wales, 1994–2014, and an improved methodology to include the experiences of high-frequency victims. Ties between poverty and crime are described as a pre bases for studying the connection among economy and criminal in Chapter 16, which is another area of comparative law. Supporters are increasingly merging theories on crime and economic sciences and theories. Does poor living conditions actually produce “bad” people?

Comparative legal tradition endures for long in the efforts to abolish the death penalty. To establish a humane and dignified punitive measures that will really lead to results, Chapter 17 is mentioning this subject as a moral issue. Chapter 18 is dealing with researching in other countries generally. Legal provisions that would be able to function permanently and whose results are seen in life and not just on paper and in media. So it is essential to study both good and bad practices. Therefore it is necessary to set a good base, anticipate risks and evaluate the situation. Then we can take a solution from another legal system, where the same causes and other factors exist, or work on our existing punitive measures, and solve our countries problems by smart legal policy. Or, even better, anticipate the negative trend and nip it in the bud. Chapter 19. goes further on the prison subject and asks: is locking people in cages for victimless Crimes devastating to the Economy? Final part (Chapter 20) is about the impact of gun control on crime. Again, USA is the example because it has liberal laws in this matter and grave impact of the availability of weapons on the crime rates.

I hope that this book will interest someone to enter deeper into the world of comparative studies and see for himself all the benefits which in practice can be given by them.

Marko Nikolić obtained his Master’s degree from University of Belgrade - Faculty of Law in 2014. He specialized in Criminal Law, Family Law and Environmental Law. He spent his Master year studying about international child abduction. He is currently employed in the Ministry of Defense’s Legal Department.