An Alternative Vision: Criminal Justice Developments in Non-Western Countries

In: Social justice: a journal of crime, conflict and world order, Band 28, Heft 3, S. 88-104

Abstract

Western democracies are moving away from policies that promote human rights & democracy. This is an alarming trend that particularly affects the criminal justice system. Meanwhile, many non-Western countries, such as those in Africa & in the former USSR are effectively reforming their own criminal justice policies. The countries of the former USSR are striving to recognize the human rights of prisoners, while many traditional African societies are being guided by a "principal of solidarity" in their new approach to criminal justice. African countries such as Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Uganda, & Malawi are now focused on restitution rather than punishment & have established community service strategies that offer hope to criminals. The West has much to learn from these innovative penal policies. 45 References. K. Larsen