NCJ Number
90776
Journal
Revue internationale de criminologie et de police technique Volume: 34 Issue: 3 Dated: (July-September 1981) Pages: 231-252
Date Published
1981
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article views modern administration of justice as an integral part of the global value system and proposes that criminal justice processes become the subject of more scientific study.
Abstract
Contemporary criminal justice systems are the product of an evolution that began with primitive vengeance, advanced through various stages of social retribution, and has culminated in a scientific social reaction to crime, which espouses treatment and rehabilitation goals. With these, the offender's personality has assumed the pivotal role at the center of the drama of crime and the social reaction to it. Contemporary justice administration is not only global, but dynamic, based on the principles of respect for the fundamental rights of the individual and advancing with developments in the social sciences. Statistical, sociopsychological, and sociological methodologies can be used to study the workings of criminal justice systems. Examples of such studies already performed are those of V.C. Versele and D. Szabo, which have opened vast new perspectives on the role of the criminal judge and how it is perceived by others touched by the criminal justice process -- the public, offenders, and the judges themselves. A total of 31 references are provided.