Lecture Questions 1
"Introduction"

1. Define "comparative criminal justice."

2. What crimes would be on the United Nations' list of international crimes?

3. Define "transnational crimes," and give some examples.

4. According to the authors, why should we compare systems of criminal justice?

5. Why has globalization come about?

6. How might ethnocentrism be related to the American point of view?

7. What point do the authors make about professed values and underlying values?

8. What do they mean by "politicized justice?"
 

Lecture Questions 2
"Measuring Crime Worldwide"

1. What can we learn from measuring and comparing crime data worldwide?

2. What are the three major sources of crime data used in the United States? How are they collected and used?

3. What do most nations base their official crime statistics on?

4. What are the United Nations Surveys (UNCJS)?

5. What is INTERPOL? What does it do, and what does it not do?

6. What kinds of information are in the Lyon Criminal Information System?

7. Does INTERPOL do crime statistics?

8. What are the International Victimization Surveys? What is their history, and how are they conducted?

9. What problems or limitations in working with international crime data do the authors identify?

10. What measures do they suggest to get around these limitations?

11. Look at Table 2.2 (victim surveys), Table 2.4 (reported crimes), and Table 2.6 (INTERPOL crime rates). Do you see anything interesting in these three tables that you need to share with the rest of us?

12. What kinds of countries have low crime rates? What reasons do experts give for this?

13. How does the American crime problem compare with that of other countries? What reasons do experts give for our situation?
 

Lecture Questions 3
"Families of Law"

1. The authors emphasize four main legal families. What other systems do they identify outside these four?

2. Define "public law," "private law," and "criminal law."

3. What are the origins of civil law? What were the main modern civil law codes? What are the features of civil law codes?

4. How did common law develop? What were its sources? What principles were important to the development of the common law tradition?

5. Look at Table 3.3, which compares civil and common law. What differences stand out?

6. How did socialist law originate?

7. How does socialist law differ from civil law?

8. What is the "procurator," and why is his role so important?

9. How is Islamic law different from the other main legal systems?

10. Where does Islamic law come from?

11. What are the major schools of Islamic law? How are crimes categorized?

12. What basic points would you make about each of the four major systems featured in this text?
 

Lecture Questions 4
"Six Model Nations"

1. What kind of government does England have?

2. What is England's constitutional history?

3. What has been England's recent experience with crime?

4. What are the most important influences on criminal justice at the national level in England?

5. Outline France's political and constitutional history.

6. What has been France's recent experience with crime?

7. How is criminal justice controlled at the national level in France?

8. What has been Germany's political and constitutional history over the past two centuries?

9. What crime problems have been important in Germany recently?

10. How is Germany's criminal justice system like that of the United States?

11. The authors discuss the influences of Confucian and Taoist thought on Chinese society; explain their points.

12. How was Chinese society changed under Communist Chairman Mao Tse-tung?

13. What crime problems have developed in China more recently?

14. How is the Chinese legal system different from Western systems?

15. Japan's legal system is often called a "hybrid" system. What does this mean?

16. What is Japan's crime problem today? Why is its crime rate so low, by Western standards?

17. What is the constitutional history of Saudi Arabia?

18. What kind of crime problem does Saudi Arabia have today? What reasons do the Saudis give for their low crime rate?
 

Lecture Questions 5
"Police Functions and Organizations"

1. Where does the term "police" come from? What does it mean?

2. According to the authors, what are the main functions of police today?

3. For each of the six countries, briefly describe:
    a. how the police are organized and managed.

    b. how police are trained.

    c. how the civil order function is carried out.

    d. the basic philosophy of policing in the country.

4. Identify each of the following terms:
    a. Police Authority

    b. Scotland Yard

    c. Police Nationale

    d. Gendarmerie Nationale

    e. Police Municipale

    f. Schutzplolizei (Schupo)

    g. Kriminalpolizei (Kripo)

    h. Bereitschaftspolizei (Bepo)

    i. Bunderskriminalant (BKA)

    j. People's Liberation Army

    k. Cultural Revolution

    l. Public Security Police

    m. samurai

    n. koban

    o. chuzaisho

    p. National Police Agency

    q. kidotai

    r. mubahith

    s. mutawa

    t. Pilgrims and Festivals Police Force
 

Lecture Questions 6
"Police and Community"

1. Why has community policing become an important topic recently?

2. What are the key elements of community policing (according to Skolnick and Bayley)?

3. Describe the Singapore model of neighborhood police posts.

4. What moves toward community policing have each of the six model countries made?

5. Look at the box, "A Day in the Life of a Tokyo Police Officer." What stands out in the day of Mr. Yamada?

6. What trends do we see toward international policing within the European Union?

7. Which national police force has been most influential worldwide in recent years?
 

Lecture Questions 7
"Criminal Procedure"

1. What do we mean by the adversary system? What do the authors mean in comparing it to a game?

2. What features do the authors emphasize as being most important to common law criminal procedure?

3. Why is the right to trial by jury emphasized under common law?

4. What differences would we notice in an English criminal trial and an American criminal trial?
5. How is the inquisitorial system different from the adversary system?

6. Why is the pre-trial investigation so important to the civil law criminal process?

7. How would a criminal trial in France differ from an American criminal trial?

8. Explain the role of the examining magistrate used in several civil law countries.

9. What is a "mixed court?"

10. What is distinctive about Chinese legal procedure?

11. Explain how the Chinese used (or use) "shelter and investigation."

12. Look at Table 7.3 about the steps in a Chinese trial. What strikes you about this outline?
13. How is the policy of "exemption from prosecution" applied?

14. How is civil law modified to fit Japanese culture?

15. Explain the concept of "quadi justice."

16. What would we notice as being distinctively different about a Saudi criminal trial?

17. What is convergence, and why is it said to be taking place?
 

Lecture Questions 8
"Legal Actors"

1. What commonality do you see in the viewpoints of William Shakespeare and Thomas Jefferson in regard to lawyers?

2. The authors divide the legal profession into four categories; define each of these:
a. adjudicators

b. advocates

c. legal advisors

d. legal scholars

3. How do the model nations deal with the issue of legal aid or indigent defense?

4. Explain the authors' thoughts on bureaucratic and political legal organizations.

5. Explain the stratification and specialization of the English legal profession.

6. How do France and Germany train lawyers?

7. How have the Chinese viewed the legal profession in the past? Is this view still prevalent today? What is the new "Lawyers Law?"

8. How is the role of the Chinese judge different from what we are more accustomed to?

9. Japan is reputed to have a very small legal profession. Is this reputation true? Why would the culture want to keep the legal profession small?

10. How are lawyers and judges trained in Saudi Arabia?

11. Look at Table 8.1 about the numbers of judges in the model nations. Why would the number of judges vary so much?

12. Identify these terms:
a. barrister

b. solicitor

c. Crown Prosecution Service

d. Queen's Counsel (QC)

e. magistrate (justice of the peace)

f. Inns of Court

g. law lords

h. Article 248 (in Japan)

i. Legal Research and Training Institute
 

Lecture Questions 9
"Courts"

1. What's a "court?"

2. How did courts develop in early history?

3. Compare England's magistrates' courts and crown courts.

4. Explain France's three-tiered trial court structure.

5. Describe the role of the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany.

6. The Chinese court structure is interesting and complex. Describe it, and describe the other court-like mechanisms that exist outside the formal court system.

7. Look at the case of Japan v. Jones. How would you contrast its resolution with what you would expect in the United States?

8. Why has the Japanese Supreme Court, created by American lawyers after World War II, not developed into an American-style Supreme Court?

9. What's a "supranational court?" Are there any around today?

10. What is intended to be the business of the International Criminal Court? What seems to be the problem with getting it operational?

11. Identify these terms:
a. judicial independence

b. judicial impartiality

c. pardon

d. stipendiary magistrate

e. lay magistrate

f. the dock

g. law lords

h. Court of Cassation

i. Council of State

j. mediateur

k. collegial bench

l. people's assessors

m. Civil Liberties Bureau

n. "nonlitigiousness"

o. Supreme Judicial Council
 

Lecture Questions 10
"Constitutional Review"

1. Where does the concept of "judicial review" come from?

2. Do all nations have judicial review? If not, why not?

3. Explain the French practice of "abstract review."

4. How does each of the six model nations provide for constitutional review?

5. We might say that England, China, and Saudi Arabia have informal mechanisms for judicial review. What are these mechanisms in each country?

6. What is the role of the European Court of Human Rights?
 

Lecture Questions 11
"Sentencing"

1. Discuss the four main purposes of criminal sanctions--retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation--that the text identifies.

2. Look at the punishments for Islamic crimes outlines in Table 10.1. What kinds of punishments are emphasized? Why?

3. What do we mean by noncustodial sanctions? What arguments can be made in favor of such sanctions in general?

4. How do day fines work?

5. Where do the concepts of restitution and community service come from?

6. How could we use the practice of exile today?

7. Any thoughts about on "circle sentencing?"

8. Look at Table 10.4 on prison and jail populations and incarceration rates. Notice anything in particular?

9. Is the U.S. more punitive than other Western nations?

10. For what reasons have incarceration rates gone up worldwide in recent years?

11. As a punishment option, how available is the death penalty? How much is it used, and where?

12. What do people in other countries think about their criminal punishments?

13. Where do Fairchild and Dammer say we look for progressive ideas in corrections today?

Lecture Questions 12
"Prisons"

1. How did the modern prison evolve?

2. Describe the organization of the prisons one would find in England today.

3. What is the role of the Board of Visitors?

4. What is the comparable role of the corrections judge (or sentence judge) in France?

5. Tell me about the German Prison Act of 1976.

6. How do the Germans provide for rehabilitation in prison?

7. Explain the influences of Confucianism and legalism on Chinese corrections.

8. What kinds of prisons would we find in China today? What do you see that is different from American prisons?

9. Why is Japan's prison population so small?

10. What is life like for Japanese prison inmates?

11. Explain the practice of NAIKAN in Japanese prisons.

12. Where is prison crowding a problem? What are the consequences of prison crowding?

13. What "rights" do prisoners have around the world? In the "World Report" box on prison conditions, what problems stand out?

14. What is brainwashing? Who does it? If it works, why don't we do more of it?
 

Lecture Questions 13
"Terrorism"

1. What are the historical origins of terrorism?

2. What are the goals of terrorism, according to Fairchild and Dammer? How do they categorize the different types of terrorism?

3. What do statistics show about the incidence of international terrorism?

4. Look at Table 12.1, listing foreign terrorist organizations. How many of the names do you recognize? Do any particular patterns stand out?

5. What three major international terrorist groups does the text discuss?

6. What particular problems with terrorism does each of the six model nations face?

7. Contrast "hard" and "soft" responses to terrorism, and give examples of each. What is the U.S. policy on international terrorism? Does the U.S. maintain counter-terrorism units?

8. Look over the recommendations in Table 12.2. In light of the September 11 terrorist attack on America, which of these seem to have been emphasized?
 

Lecture Questions 14
"Organized Crime and Drugs"

1. What does the text identify as the principal characteristics of organized crime?

2. What specific illegal activities are associated with organized crime worldwide?

3. Discuss the origins, features, and principal criminal activities of these three traditional crime organizations: 
a. the Italian Mafia.

b. the Japanese Yakuza.

c. the Chinese Triads.

4. What three new organized crime groups do the authors discuss? What are their main activities?

5. What is the extent of the drug trade worldwide? Is the U.S. making headway in its "war on drugs?"

6. What are the major sources of the world's three major illegal drugs--opium, cocaine, and cannabis?

7. What is "money laundering?" Into what steps is this process usually divided?

8. How does drug trafficking affect American foreign policy?

9. What main strategies does the text discuss as approaches to controlling international drug trafficking?
 

Lecture Questions 15
"The Future"

1. Explain "convergence." What forces cause it?

2. How important is cultural persistence? Explain how this would work.

3. What effects do politics and public policy have on criminal justice within nations?

4. What does the future hold in store for the six model nations?

5. The authors emphasize three kinds of international crimes of future concern:
a. computer crime

b. corruption

c. smuggling
Briefly describe their assessment of the magnitude and effects of each type of crime.
Why do you think they chose to emphasize these three particular crimes?
What would you emphasize on your "top three" list of international crimes?