Europe Meets U.S. in Crime and Policy

• NCJ Number: 164041
• Journal: European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: (1996) Pages: 1-147
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 147 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Issue Overview

Annotation

This issue presents articles that address some aspect of a comparison of crime and criminal justice in the United States and Europe.

Abstract

The first article compares crime trends in Europe and the United States. The article advises that the focus on American distinctiveness with regard to gun-related violent crime overshadows major similarities in criminality shared by the United States and most European nations. The second article focuses on the nature and impact of American drug policy, particularly as it affects young urban black males. Another article deals with gangs in the United States and Europe. Included are examples of street gangs in Stockholm, Zurich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Berlin, London, Manchester, Brussels, and a number of Volga cities in Russia. It then describes new research on gang structures in the United States. The author recommends that European nations not emulate the United States in attempting to address the problem of gangs without obtaining sufficient empirical information from research. The fourth article compares the United States and Switzerland with respect to family socialization and delinquency. The next article examines clientelism as the term for the relationship between powerful states and satellite states. The author identifies the adverse impact of such a structure on efforts to address international drug trafficking and transnational organized crime. Also included in this issue is a letter written by the German criminologist Christian Pfeiffer to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno in 1994 as a critique and concern about American criminal justice policy. The crime institute profile features the United States' National Institute of Justice. For individual articles, see NCJ-164042-47.