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Rating: 
Summary: Poor editing
Review: This collection of articles should have been excellent. However, it seems obvious its editors were not up to the task. Some articles are excellent (e.gr., Law and order in contemporary Japan, Ch. 6; Juvenile Delinquency in the Cross-Cultural Context, Ch.31), others are hardly worth the paper on which they are printed (e.gr., Low crime rates in Bahrain, Ch. 2; Organized crime in South Korea). It seems the editors should have been more demanding instead of, apparently, simply accepting uncritically was was submitted to them.In addition, there are several factual mistakes that were not corrected. For instance,the Seventh United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention was held in 1985, not 1983 (pag. 17). And the Ninth Congress was held in Cairo, not in Tunis.This is nsot the exception, but rather the rule. So, the book is marred by poor editing. Too bad, because the material contained therein is of great importance.
Rating: 
Summary: A Look at Crinminal Justice Systems Around the World
Review: Today Americans and citizens of most countries think nothing of traveling around the world. They pay little attention to the criminal justice systems of the world because they think they are very similar to their own. Little do they realize that crime and justice even in neighboring countries may be very different. Fields and Moore do an outstanding job at looking at criminal justice systems around the world. Their book follows the traditional format of introductory criminal justice texts namely looking at crime, the police, the law, corrections, and finally criminal justice systems. What makes this a great primary or supplemental text for the classroom is that the text includes material from all the continents of the world - Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Australia. It exposes the reader to an understanding of the four major legal systems by including material from common law, civil law, socialist law, and Islamic law countries. Therefore, the reader can redily compare those four legal traditions of the world. This text is especially helpful to the reader from the United States, or any country, because it permits one to compare his or her country's criminal justice system with those from other countries with which the reader may be unfamiliar. It permits the reader to realize that even among democracies, there are major differences and that not all democracies of the world are the same. The material in this text is challenging to both undergraduate and graduate students. I have used the text for both categories of students and will use it again in the fall 2000 semester. It is an outstanding textbook that is comprehensive and I recommend it to all without qualification.
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