About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

32 How. J. Crim. Just. 1 (1993)

handle is hein.journals/hjcj32 and id is 1 raw text is: @ Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1993, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. The Howard Journal Vol 32 No 1. Feb 93 ISSN 0265-5527 Criminal Justice Expenditure: A Global Perspective JON SPENCER Lecturer in Social Work, University of Manchester Abstract: The United Nations Third Survey of Crime and Criminal Justice (United Nations 1987) contains data on global criminal justice expenditure. The data show that between 1982 and 1986 there was a trend of increased expenditure on criminal justice. At the same time crime rates increased. This paper examines criminal justice expenditure in different parts of the system, in an attempt to discover whether there are patterns to global criminal justice expenditure. The author concludes that criminal justice expenditure is more concerned with political and ideological objectives than with feasible criminal justice outcomes. The United Nations Third Survey of Crime and Criminaljustice offers a uniquely broad database with which to examine global patterns of change. While other databases provide more complete information on particular segments of the criminal justice process, the Third Survey details all stages, and some characteristics of criminal justice systems, such as the number of judges and magistrates, the proportions of these who are female, and the amount spent on different parts of the system in different years. This paper offers some preliminary data on criminal justice expenditure and their relationship to aspects of the operation of the system. The data on expenditure on system elements (police, prosecutions, courts, prisons and non-institutional measures (for example, probation)) were requested for the years 1982, 1984 and 1986. Features of the system like prison population and numbers prosecuted were available for all years from 1980 to 1986. Change in expenditure is the cornerstone of this analysis.' This was chosen in preference to absolute expenditure because of the massive national differences in purchasing power of ostensibly equal sums. Ratios are much more stable and usable for a variety of reasons in international comparisons (see Harvey 1989). In order to provide a meaningful comparison of expenditure changes between countries the average rate of inflation between 1980 and 1986 for each of the 93 countries was included in all relevant calculations. The overall trend in criminal justice expenditure, globally, has been upwards in the period 1982 to 1986 (United Nations 1987). The 93 countries which make up the data, with few exceptions, indicated an increase in all areas of criminal justice expenditure during the period 1982 I

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most