Comparative Justice Systems: Criminal Justice

¶ … nations, what particular historical developments may have had a major effect on their formation of criminal law and criminal justice administration? The six model nations are China, France, England, Germany, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. The criminal law and justice systems of each of the aforementioned countries are shaped by some key developments in history. France: French criminal law is shaped by a number of historical events, the most significant being the 1789 passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen by parliament (Dammer & Albanese, 2013).

This declaration asserted several rights including the freedom from arbitrary detention, the right to equality, the right to liberty, the right to a presumption of innocence, and the need for power separation (Dammer & Albanese, 2013). It forms the basis of the principles that govern criminal law in France today (Dammer & Albanese, 2013).

The rising to power of General Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799 and France's becoming an empire were also significant historical events, paving way for the establishment of the Penal Code, which categorizes crimes on the basis of seriousness and determines which case will be heard in which court, and which punishment will be administered thereof (Dammer & Albanese, 2013). Germany: the most significant event in the history of criminal law development in Germany was the unification of the criminal code across local territories locally referred to as Lander (Dammer & Albanese, 2013).

The unified code developed thereof (Reichsstrafgezetzbuch) forms the basis of German criminal law today. Like the French Penal Code, it distinguishes between crimes on the basis of seriousness such that felonies are punished more severely than misdemeanors (Dammer & Albanese, 2013). Owing to this unification, individual territories are given the discretion to handle their own affairs in relation to lower court administration, corrections, and policing; however, all their laws and provisions must be within the confines of the provisions of the unified code.

Japan: the development of the Japanese criminal code dates back to 604 AD, when the Seventeen Maxims of Prince Shotoku were developed, and the 700s, when Codes of Yoro and Taiho were established (Dammer & Albanese, 2013). The 1868 Meijji Restoration, however, marked the beginning of Japan's development of structured legal codes because it was then that the French Penal Code was adopted for use in Japanese criminal law (Dammer & Albanese, 2013).

This would mark a series of a couple of other adoptions -- the German Code in the late eighteenth century and certain aspects of U.S. Law at the beginning of the 19th century (Dammer & Albanese, 2013). Today, the Japanese Criminal Code is merely a hybrid of the American, French, Chinese, and German (predominant).