Comparative Criminal Justice: Making Sense of Difference

The increasingly important topic of comparative criminal justice is examined from an original and insightful perspective by David Nelken, one of the top scholars in the field. The author looks at why we should study crime and criminal justice in a comparative and international context, and the difficulties we encounter when we do.

Drawing on experience of teaching and research in a variety of countries, the author offers multiple illustrations of striking differences in the roles of criminal justice actors and ways of handling crime problems. The book includes in-depth discussions of such key issues as how we can learn from other jurisdictions, compare ′like with like′, and balance explanation with understanding – for example, in making sense of national differences in prison rates. Careful attention is given to the question of how far globalisation challenges traditional ways of comparing units. The book also offers a number of helpful tips on methodology, showing why method and substance cannot and should not be separated when it comes to understanding other people′s systems of justice.

Students and academics in criminology and criminal justice will find this book an invaluable resource.

 

David Nelken is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute of Sociology at the University of Macerata in Italy. He is also visiting Professor of Law (Criminology) at University College London where he was previously Reader in Law. His book The Limits of the Legal Process (Academic Press, 1983) gained an American Sociological Association Distinguished Scholar Award. He is general editor of the International Library of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Dartmouth) for whom he is editing a volume on White-Collar Crime. He will also shortly be publishing a book with N Passas on Controlling EC Fraud and for Pluto Press a book entitled Law′s Truth.

CONTRIBUTORS OUTSIDE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

Nelken: Futures of Criminology

Stanley Cohen Hebrew University Jerusalem

Wayne Morrison Queen Mary and Westfield College, London

Massimo Pavarini University of BolognaPeter Rush University of Lancaster

Alison Young University of Lancaster