For courses in comparative criminal justice systems, comparative criminology, and comparative government.

Help readers gain a solid understanding of the diversity in legal systems around the world

Comparative Criminal Justice Systems: A Topical Approach is designed to effectively explain the complexities of justice systems around the world. Using an accessible, easy-to-understand comparative approach, it helps students recognize the growing importance of an international perspective. Key concepts are organized in a sequence that many students will already find familiar, progressing from issues concerned with criminal law to examinations of police, courts, and corrections. Students gain a realistic understanding of the many ways policing, adjudication, and corrections systems can be organized and operated. Unlike most competitive books, it covers more than 30 countries, offering insights into such issues as Islamic legal tradition and  the Eastern Asia legal tradition. Learning Objectives utilize Bloom’s taxonomy phrasing to ensure clarity, usefulness, and accessibility, and visually appealing images further add to the book’s readability. The Seventh Edition updates statistics, changes in law, and modifications of procedures throughout; includes new and updated topic coverage; enhances and updates popular pedagogical features; and provides a number of important chapter modifications to ensure readers are getting the most useful information on this constantly growing field.

Philip L. Reichel is Emeritus Professor at the University of Northern Colorado and Adjunct Professor at the University of New Hampshire Law School. Prior to beginning his career in academia, he worked as a counselor for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. During his more than 40 years in academia, he has received awards for teaching, advising, service, and scholarship. He is the author of Comparative Criminal Justice Systems: A Topical Approach, co-editor of the Handbook of Transnational Crime and Justice, and has authored or co-authored more than forty articles and book chapters. His areas of expertise include corrections, comparative justice systems, and transnational crime. He has lectured at colleges and universities in Austria, China, Costa Rica, Germany, and Poland and has presented papers at side-events during the United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Brazil) and the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Vienna). He currently serves as the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ NGO Alternate Representative to the United Nations.

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