You are to be sentenced death by stone!” Your punishment is to cut off the arm that has chosen to steal!” All these statements or sentences were given or can be given to Saudi Araba citizens for certain criminal acts. One might believe that one’s own country, religion, or culture is better or right and all other is wrong; this is also known as ethnocentrism’. As US citizens’ individuals, might see this as cruel and unusual punishment, but in a country, such as Saudi Araba this type of punishment is acceptable. “The reason for comparing is to learn from the experience of others and, conversely, that he who knows only one country knows none.” George Sartori, 1996 [Har11]
Comparative Criminal Justice is defined as the investigation and evaluation of a national system of justice in terms of other countries, cultures, or institutions So many different countries and so many ways for the criminal justice policies. We have democracy, monarchy, aristocracy, and dictatorship. Although comparative criminal justice is relatively new, it has been dated back to the 1700s known as the “Age of Enlightenment,” first introduced by Cesare Beccaria (1738- 1794). Many years passed with the study of crime and the justice systems but with other major problems the subject of comparative criminal justice wasn’t so important compared to the two wars at the time. [Har11] As crime and justice become more global comparative criminal justice has become a central part of the understanding of crime and justice today. This paper will compare 4 model nations. They have been chosen due to the history, stability, and their definition of legal traditions. They all have a basic value of justice for criminal acts but each uniquely sees differences when or how an offender will be prosecuted and punished. [Har14] Political scientist Karl Deutch stated, “Without attempting comparison, how could we know that something was unique?”
England is the largest political division between the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. England is the backbone of the Common Law legal tradition. Scotland although has mixed common law elements it is mainly known as a Civil Law tradition. Therefore, what is being examined would be England and Wales rather than all Great Britain or all the United Kingdom. England is still considered one of the world’s great trading powers and financial centers. England is a unitary government?. Parliament’ is the supreme power in England. Parliament has been the supreme decision-making body of England since the eighteenth century. A recent development has been made within the English jurisprudence with the creation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The UK now has a more similar function to the US informal separation of between the judicial, legislative, and executive powers. England may not have written constitutions but it does have unwritten constitutions such as the great charters, organic laws’, constitutional traditions, and legal procedures.
Crime data is classified as two kinds in England. The first is police data which are collected and compiled by local police. The second is compared to the United States National Crime Victimization Survey but it is called British Crime Survey (BCS) in England. This survey is most credible in England. Besides drug trafficking and money laundering the main issue in England tends to be terrorism. This is caused by the conflicts involving Catholics and Protestants until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
The United States and England have been similar in governmental and cultural traditions. England and the United States are two major Common Law countries in the world today. The United States and England are also similar in encouragement for local administration and funding. France is a unitary state that has a form of government in which all major decisions are made through a national bureaucracy in the capital city of Paris. France is a republican government style in which a president heads the state but the power remains in the citizens and their vote. Since 1789, France has revised its constitution. In 1958, the constitution Fifth Republic was formed; this constitution independently selects a president and the president selects the Council of Ministries, and the Prime Minister, who is the actual head of the government in France. France does not have a Supreme Court like the United States, instead, they have a Constitutional Council that gives advice opinions on laws that have passed but not yet enforced. Before the 1789 revolution in France, Bourbon Kings ruled it. Then in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte affirmed France as an empire and declared himself emperor. Until 1875 attempts at monarchy, republican governments and even another emperor were successful until it finally stayed as Republic. [Har11]
France’s criminal laws basic principals have come from the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the citizens. The first penal code was drawn in 1810 but has been revised many times, most recently in 1994. The code breaks down crimes based on the seriousness, from felonies and misdemeanors. France criminal justice system has the prestige of being powerful, rule-bound, and inaccessible. The two dominant courts in France would be the Constitutional Council Court and Council of State. In French, legal system civil and criminal’s courts both can hear civil and criminal cases.
France and the United States governments were developed after a revolution, are republican style and have a written constitution. Like the US, France had a declining rate of crime in the 1990s. Political and economic turmoil have caused terrorism to be a major issue in France. Following the United States France has a zero tolerance and get tough policies.
Germany, since 1990, has been separated into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the city of Berlin. But the formal name for Germany remains known as the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland). The legal tradition of Civil Law is deeply rooted in Germany. Germany is the richest nations in the world. The Government in Germany consists of executive, legislative, and judicial branches. They are known as a federal republic which means power is distributed between federal and state governments. However, even with a president the legitimate power is in the hands of the chancellor who was selected in elections. The German nation did not exist until 1870 when William I. Otto von Bismarck became chancellor. The German Civil Code of law in modern times. These laws helped consolidate and legitimate the new state. After Germany’s defeat in World War I a democratic constitution was established (Weimar Republic). In 1933 Hitler made known a Nazi party. This party abolished federalism and made Germany a lawless state. Hitler dictatorship caused War World II when it was discovered that he was eliminating Jews. This war paved way for Germany’s political and econometric destruction. One of the changes was a constitution called Basic Law in May 1949. It also involved the establishment of law making constitutional court to be able to distinguish the powers of federal and state governments and its people.
The Criminal Federal Police collect German crime statistics. Germany has a large scale of drug offenses as much of the Western world. Germany provides chemicals for South American cocaine processors and a transshipment point for Southwest Asia heroin, Latin American cocaine, and European synthetic drugs. Three of the most significant contributors for Germany’s criminal justice systems are crime and drugs, extensive immigration from countries nearby, and ethnic violence. In early times, German law was based on Common Law principles and local indigenous law. German law is made up of statutes, ordinances, administrative rules, and customs. Even though Germany has common law practices, previous court decisions serve guides to the judges and not as sources of the law. Germany is a federalist country; therefore, it allows states to handle their own affairs such as policing, corrections and lower court administration. The influence for both Civil Law and Common Law in Germany comes from imperial Germany and the US after World War II. Germany’s Supreme Court is called German Federal Constitutional Court and its job is to balance the powers between states and the federal governments. Even though the US is an influence for German’s criminal procedures it is still widely known as Civil Law process. Germany resembles the United States in which both have a federal republic system that assigns power between the states and the federal government. The crime rate like the United States has dropped since the mid-1990s. But there still seems to be a serious problem with drug related offenses. Hate crimes, because of immigration, also have become a major concern with the German government.
Over 99 percent of people in Japan are native Japanese, making Japan one of the most homogeneous?. Japan is also known as the world’s largest and most technologically advanced because of its strong work ethic, government-industry cooperation, mastery of high technology and defense budget. Japanese legal traditions are modeled by European Civil Law but influenced by American legal traditions. After World War II Japan constitution was created to include three level of branches. The first level branch is the legislative government which is called a Diet, and it consists of a House of Representatives and House of Councilors. The second level of the branch is the executive branch and includes the prime minister, a cabinet appointed by the minister and a hereditary emperor. Because an emperor is involved technically Japan is deemed a constitutional monarchy. The final branch is headed by the Supreme Court and it is the judicial branch. Like France Japan is a unitary state. It does not have a system telling the separation of power of a state and federal government, and most of Japan depends on central government for financial subsidies. Chinese is the external influence in Japan’s civilization, writing system, social values, and the Buddhist religion. Until a military junta ruled the end of World War II Japan®. After the War, Japan became an industrial development. Japan’s new constitution was called Showa which took effect in May 1947. It was a model after US constitution and a parliamentary system like Great Britain. It has a bill of rights and Supreme Court judicial review included.
Japan is very much low when compared to crime rates. The sale of heroin and cocaine has yet to reach high proportions, as compared to other drugs, such as amphetamines imported from parts of Asia. There is also a violent (assault) crime that has not declined as Japan would wish. Boryokundan? is a major crime problem in Japan. The organized crime groups are involved in numerous illegal activities and the production and distribution of amphetamines. Harmony, conformity, and loyalty are values that are valued strongly within the Japanese. Also, low employment rates, lack of ghettos, strong family cultures, and strict gun laws contribute to the low crime rate.
A code of laws for Japan can be traced back to A.D. 604. Now, Chinese law influenced Japan. In the 1800s Japan developed legal codes influenced by the US, France, Germany, and Chinese. In 1868 we see Japan adapted to the French Penal Code for the criminal justice transactions. Then in the late nineteenth century, Japan adopted German’s civil code. The US has influenced by way of human rights and constitutional laws. So now Japan’s criminal code consist of: (1) penal code which defines crimes and punishments, (2) the code of criminal procedure which sets legal standard for prosecution and sentencing, (3) prison law which defines correctional matters. The use of the law or justice system to settle disputes between individuals is minimum when compared to other countries. Japan emphases compromise, mediation, and consensus. Their criminal justice system is centralized and tightly controlled by the national government. The two national police are the National Police Safety Commission (NPSC) and the National Police Agency (NPA). The NPSC oversees the administration arm that makes policy decisions, and police affairs such as, police education, communications, and criminal statistics. The NPA runs police through the prefectural police ° (PP).
Although Japan is a constitutional monarchy, it has an emperor that has little power and is just for ceremonial reasons. Japan has a prime minister that is more involved in the government, he is like an American president. Since Japan is a unitary government instead of federal the 47 prefects are provided with direction and financial support by the central government. After World War II Japanese were forced to adopt some of Americas legal traditions such as written constitution, a hierarchical court system, and criminal procedure laws. Thus, Japan is more of a hybrid tradition rather than a primarily Common Law or Civil Law tradition. Like the United States-Japan has crime issues for drug crimes and terrorist acts. Japan has also adopted tough crime policies for certain crime incidents.
Not everyone likes to think that someone’s idea was better than their own but sometimes the best way to learn is from others. Other people’s experiences, crime acts, and successes. Not only are there many things that can be learned from others, there are some matters that can only be learned from others. Reforms that emerge from within the same society often tend to reproduce the problems they are being asked to solve precisely because they come from the same culture. [Nel09]
