Published by Pearson (April 11, 2017) © 2018
Helps readers gain a solid understanding of the diversity in legal systems around the world
Uses a familiar topical organization to promote more effective teaching and more rapid learning. Following the same format as many U.S. criminal justice books, the text moves from law, to policing, to courts and corrections offering a more intuitive and comfortable approach for instructors and learners alike.
Covers more than 30 countries–far more than most competitive titles–helping students understand the remarkable diversity of justice systems worldwide.
Illuminates the increasingly transnational nature of crime, demonstrating the growing impact of transnational crimes such as computer crime, corruption of public officials, illicit drug trafficking, money laundering, sea piracy, and international terrorism.
UPDATED: Updates statistics, changes in law, and modifications of procedures throughout to reflect the latest trends in the field and improve the effectiveness of the text’s presentation.
Continues, enhances, and updates popular pedagogical features from earlier editions
UPDATED: Appeals to visual learners and enhances readability through an increased use of photographs and graphics.
UPDATED: Provides readers with a global orientation to the chapter’s coverage by identifying “Countries in Focus” at the beginning of each chapter.
Helps students connect key concepts to the latest news. “In the News” boxes throughout the book cover newsworthy topics ranging from torture to police reform in Mexico.
UPDATED: Improves student insight by providing context and helpful background information in “You Should Know” boxes. These boxes address issues ranging from differences in the roles of the accused to local variations in the application of Islamic law. “You Should Know” boxes now include repurposed “In the News” boxes highlighted in previous editions.
Helps students focus their study using Learning Objectives at the start of each chapter. The Learning Objectives identify the knowledge and skills that students should gain after reading the chapter and are presented in the phrasing of Bloom’s taxonomy
UPDATED: Encourages deeper understanding and critical thinking in every chapter through Impact sections. These sections suggest links between countries, ideas to improve legal systems, or ways to encourage more global understanding. Discussion questions help students consider the implications of what they’ve learned. Examples include how security measures may explain the global crime drop (Chapter 2) and how soccer and American football can explain differences between common law and civil law (Chapter 5).
UPDATED: Offers interesting Web Projects for students to expand their learning. For example, students are encouraged to learn about the United Nations’ global counter-terrorism strategy (Chapter 3), the roles and responsibilities of lay judges in Finland (Chapter 7), and how to use Cornell Law School’s death penalty database to answer questions about capital punishment around the world (Chapter 8).
UPDATED: Encourages class participation using end-of-chapter Discussion Questions. These also provide a way to gauge student understanding of chapter material, and make good assignments.
UPDATED: Helps students see the big picture using regional maps that combine to World Maps. To help orient students, the first time a “Country in Focus” is mentioned in a chapter, reference is made to the specific map containing that country.
UPDATED: Helps students find information for group projects, classroom presentations, and research papers using an annotated list of Websites in Appendix B.
UPDATED: Contains complete case citation for all U.S. federal cases and relies on primary sources for information to give students the most accurate information possible.
Offers helpful instructor supplements
Instructor’s Manual with Test Bank includes content outlines for classroom discussion, teaching suggestions, and answers to selected end-of-chapter questions from the text. This also contains a Word document version of the test bank.
TestGen, a computerized test generation system, provides maximum flexibility in creating and administering tests on paper, electronically, or online.
PowerPoint Presentations include photos, illustrations, charts, and tables from the book.
Detailed chapter-by-chapter changes include:
Chapter 1:
The section on Local (previously called provincial) benefits of an international perspective has been revised to include intercultural competence as one of the benefits, and to identify both “intercultural competence” and “establishing points of comparison” as specific benefits.
Information on the Mérida Initiative (Bilateral Cooperation Efforts) has been updated and the section describing a Political Approach to an international perspective has been completely revised and now uses United Nations efforts in Liberia as a specific example of police reform.
Two new Web Projects (“Assessing cultural competence” and “Arrested in . . .”) have been added—making a total of 4 web projects in the chapter.
Chapter 2:
Dr. Rosemary Barberet has been added as a co-author for Chapter 2 to improve coverage of theories and to add material on international crime.
The chapter title has been modified to reflect the addition of international crime as a key topic and a new chapter introduction provides specific examples of domestic, transnational, and international crime.
The new section on international crime reviews its primary forms (genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes) and provides information about the role of the International Criminal Court in prosecuting violations of international criminal law.
Chapter 3:
The Impact section now uses Canada rather than the United States as a contrast to Mexico when discussing due process, crime control, and corruption.
A new Web Project (“A Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy”) has been added—making a total of 2 web projects in the chapter.
The section on Liberty, Safety, and Fighting Terrorism has been revised to have less emphasis on the USA PATRIOT Act and more on legislation generally and now includes the USA Freedom Act of 2015.
A new section, “Tilting toward safety and security,” highlights counter-terrorism measures taken in the United States and other countries. As a contrast, another new section “Tilting toward liberty” describes some tempering measures as the United States and other countries seek to balance security and liberty.
Chapter 4:
This was the most drastically changed chapter in the last edition as the socialist legal tradition was replaced with the Eastern Asia legal tradition. That change, of course, had ripple effects throughout the rest of the book. Feedback was positive regarding that modification, so the changes for this edition are more modest and occur mostly during coverage of the Islamic legal tradition. For example, discussion of flexibility in Islamic law has dropped mazalim courts and now highlights—and distinguished between—fatwa and ijtihad as key concepts.
Chapter 5:
Under Chapter 5’s discussion of substantive law in the Islamic legal tradition, coverage of hudud and tazir crimes has been expanded and clarified.
In a continuing effort to explain and distinguish inquisitorial and adversarial procedures, additional explanation and examples have been added. Primary among those is a new section, “Merging adversarial and inquisitorial processes,” that describes how each procedure influences the other.
In 2013, an amended version of China’s Criminal Procedure Law came into effect, and some of its key features are now included in discussion of procedural law in the Eastern Asia tradition.
A new Web Project has students consider the conditions and obstacles of criminal responsibility in Iran.
Chapter 6:
New information about the demilitarizing of the French Gendarmerie has been added and recent reform attempts of policing in Mexico receives significant coverage.
There is a new Web Project that provide students with opportunities to compare police agencies in such areas as structure, organization, mission, and training.
Other new Web Projects direct students to the topics of Spain’s Civil Guard, to articles comparing police shooting in countries around the world, and to INTERPOL’s work.
Because the Schengen Convention and European arrest warrants are less newsworthy today than when those topics were first included, they have been replaced with additional information on regional police cooperation.
Chapter 7:
The introduction still uses the Amanda Knox case (with all necessary updates) to set the stage for differences in the judicial process and court organization.
Specific differences between Italian and American trials are highlighted in a new Web Project.
Another new Web Project has students consider the implications of Scotland juries being able to return a “not proven” verdict rather than only “guilty” or “not guilty.”
The section on Lay Judges has been considerably expanded and now provides more examples of contemporary lay participation.
Because of changes to the French penal code in 2014, France has been removed from the Impact box as an example of countries that have concurrent consideration of guilt and sentencing.
Court organization was modified in both China and Saudi Arabia since the previous edition of this book, so those sections have been updated.
Chapter 8:
Statistics are updated.
The Nelson Mandela Rules on treatment of prisoners are included.
The addition of new information on recent changes in China regarding the use of capital punishment are covered, especially the increased use of suspended death sentences.
To still have discussion of incarceration rates across the extremes, Australia replaces South Africa (which current data places among the low-level countries) as an example of the mid-level use of incarceration.
The section on women in prison has been updated.
Chapter 9:
One new Web Project asks students to consider at what age criminal responsibility begins.
Another Web Project has students compare aspects of juvenile justice proceedings in different countries.
Changes in juvenile justice proceeding have occurred in each of the four focus countries since the last edition of this book, and those changes have been incorporated into the narrative.
Chapter 10:
Japan introduced a major reform to its justice system in 2009 and that lay judge process is now entrenched as a key feature. As a result, Chapter 10 now includes a new section describing the citizen role in adjudication.
Other changes include updates to statistics and additional information about prison sentences.
Helps readers gain a solid understanding of the diversity in legal systems around the world
UPDATED: Updates statistics, changes in law, and modifications of procedures throughout to reflect the latest trends in the field and improve the effectiveness of the text’s presentation.
Continues, enhances, and updates popular pedagogical features from earlier editions
UPDATED: Appeals to visual learners and enhances readability through an increased use of photographs and graphics.
UPDATED: Provides readers with a global orientation to the chapter’s coverage by identifying “Countries in Focus” at the beginning of each chapter.
UPDATED: Improves student insight by providing context and helpful background information in “You Should Know” boxes. These boxes address issues ranging from differences in the roles of the accused to local variations in the application of Islamic law. “You Should Know” boxes now include repurposed “In the News” boxes highlighted in previous editions.
UPDATED: Encourages deeper understanding and critical thinking in every chapter through Impact sections. These sections suggest links between countries, ideas to improve legal systems, or ways to encourage more global understanding. Discussion questions help students consider the implications of what they’ve learned. Examples include how security measures may explain the global crime drop (Chapter 2) and how soccer and American football can explain differences between common law and civil law (Chapter 5).
UPDATED: Offers interesting Web Projects for students to expand their learning. For example, students are encouraged to learn about the United Nations’ global counter-terrorism strategy (Chapter 3), the roles and responsibilities of lay judges in Finland (Chapter 7), and how to use Cornell Law School’s death penalty database to answer questions about capital punishment around the world (Chapter 8).
UPDATED: Encourages class participation using end-of-chapter Discussion Questions. These also provide a way to gauge student understanding of chapter material, and make good assignments.
UPDATED: Helps students see the big picture using regional maps that combine to World Maps. To help orient students, the first time a “Country in Focus” is mentioned in a chapter, reference is made to the specific map containing that country.
UPDATED: Helps students find information for group projects, classroom presentations, and research papers using an annotated list of Websites in Appendix B.
UPDATED: Contains complete case citation for all U.S. federal cases and relies on primary sources for information to give students the most accurate information possible.
Detailed chapter-by-chapter changes include:
Chapter 1:
The section on Local (previously called provincial) benefits of an international perspective has been revised to include intercultural competence as one of the benefits, and to identify both “intercultural competence” and “establishing points of comparison” as specific benefits.
Information on the Mérida Initiative (Bilateral Cooperation Efforts) has been updated and the section describing a Political Approach to an international perspective has been completely revised and now uses United Nations efforts in Liberia as a specific example of police reform.
Two new Web Projects (“Assessing cultural competence” and “Arrested in . . .”) have been added—making a total of 4 web projects in the chapter.
Chapter 2:
Dr. Rosemary Barberet has been added as a co-author for Chapter 2 to improve coverage of theories and to add material on international crime.
The chapter title has been modified to reflect the addition of international crime as a key topic and a new chapter introduction provides specific examples of domestic, transnational, and international crime.
The new section on international crime reviews its primary forms (genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes) and provides information about the role of the International Criminal Court in prosecuting violations of international criminal law.
Chapter 3:
The Impact section now uses Canada rather than the United States as a contrast to Mexico when discussing due process, crime control, and corruption.
A new Web Project (“A Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy”) has been added—making a total of 2 web projects in the chapter.
The section on Liberty, Safety, and Fighting Terrorism has been revised to have less emphasis on the USA PATRIOT Act and more on legislation generally and now includes the USA Freedom Act of 2015.
A new section, “Tilting toward safety and security,” highlights counter-terrorism measures taken in the United States and other countries. As a contrast, another new section “Tilting toward liberty” describes some tempering measures as the United States and other countries seek to balance security and liberty.
Chapter 4:
This was the most drastically changed chapter in the last edition as the socialist legal tradition was replaced with the Eastern Asia legal tradition. That change, of course, had ripple effects throughout the rest of the book. Feedback was positive regarding that modification, so the changes for this edition are more modest and occur mostly during coverage of the Islamic legal tradition. For example, discussion of flexibility in Islamic law has dropped mazalim courts and now highlights—and distinguished between—fatwa and ijtihad as key concepts.
Chapter 5:
Under Chapter 5’s discussion of substantive law in the Islamic legal tradition, coverage of hudud and tazir crimes has been expanded and clarified.
In a continuing effort to explain and distinguish inquisitorial and adversarial procedures, additional explanation and examples have been added. Primary among those is a new section, “Merging adversarial and inquisitorial processes,” that describes how each procedure influences the other.
In 2013, an amended version of China’s Criminal Procedure Law came into effect, and some of its key features are now included in discussion of procedural law in the Eastern Asia tradition.
A new Web Project has students consider the conditions and obstacles of criminal responsibility in Iran.
Chapter 6:
New information about the demilitarizing of the French Gendarmerie has been added and recent reform attempts of policing in Mexico receives significant coverage.
There is a new Web Project that provide students with opportunities to compare police agencies in such areas as structure, organization, mission, and training.
Other new Web Projects direct students to the topics of Spain’s Civil Guard, to articles comparing police shooting in countries around the world, and to INTERPOL’s work.
Because the Schengen Convention and European arrest warrants are less newsworthy today than when those topics were first included, they have been replaced with additional information on regional police cooperation.
Chapter 7:
The introduction still uses the Amanda Knox case (with all necessary updates) to set the stage for differences in the judicial process and court organization.
Specific differences between Italian and American trials are highlighted in a new Web Project.
Another new Web Project has students consider the implications of Scotland juries being able to return a “not proven” verdict rather than only “guilty” or “not guilty.”
The section on Lay Judges has been considerably expanded and now provides more examples of contemporary lay participation.
Because of changes to the French penal code in 2014, France has been removed from the Impact box as an example of countries that have concurrent consideration of guilt and sentencing.
Court organization was modified in both China and Saudi Arabia since the previous edition of this book, so those sections have been updated.
Chapter 8:
Statistics are updated.
The Nelson Mandela Rules on treatment of prisoners are included.
The addition of new information on recent changes in China regarding the use of capital punishment are covered, especially the increased use of suspended death sentences.
To still have discussion of incarceration rates across the extremes, Australia replaces South Africa (which current data places among the low-level countries) as an example of the mid-level use of incarceration.
The section on women in prison has been updated.
Chapter 9:
One new Web Project asks students to consider at what age criminal responsibility begins.
Another Web Project has students compare aspects of juvenile justice proceedings in different countries.
Changes in juvenile justice proceeding have occurred in each of the four focus countries since the last edition of this book, and those changes have been incorporated into the narrative.
Chapter 10:
Japan introduced a major reform to its justice system in 2009 and that lay judge process is now entrenched as a key feature. As a result, Chapter 10 now includes a new section describing the citizen role in adjudication.
Other changes include updates to statistics and additional information about prison sentences.
1. An International Perspective
2. Domestic, Transnational, and International Crime, and Justice
3. An American Perspective on Criminal Law
4. Legal Traditions
5. Substantive Law and Procedural Law in the Four Legal Traditions
6. An International Perspective on Policing
7. An International Perspective on Courts
8. An International Perspective on Corrections
9. An International Perspective on Juvenile Justice
10. Japan: Examples of Effectiveness and Borrowing
Appendix A: World Maps
Appendix B: Helpful Web Sites
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