NCJ Number
79440
Date Published
1981
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Dr. William Burnham, Assistant Warden of a juvenile institution in England, discusses myths held by both Americans and Europeans about each other's criminal justice systems.
Abstract
Many Americans believe that Europeans have a superior criminal justice system and that the style and quality of European research is better than the American version. However, European society is different from American society because it is more homogeneous and thus easier to control. Also, European research is merely presented better; Americans use jargon ineffectively, but their research addresses a wider context than European works. Europeans believe that Americans produce 'real' research in that they have extensive statistical data supporting their arguments. They also feel that Americans have a more coherent approach to criminal justice since systems theory is more developed in the United States than in Europe. However, Burnham is skeptical about victim surveys, upon which much of American research is based; he insists that U.S. criminal justice agencies are more fragmented than in Europe and thus have less coherent policies. Overall, the quality of justice in America remains poor and arbitrary. During a question and answer session following the videotaped lecture, Burnham addresses human rights dilemmas and criminal justice traditions.