Global criminology

Global Criminology examines the fundamental contradiction between globalisation and national sovereignty as the basis for establishing contemporary international and transnational criminal justice processes. The principle of territorial sovereignty forms the central premise of this book as most formal initiatives for dealing with transnational and international crime involve attempts to forge co-operation between established sovereign justice institutions in different nations. The prosecution of foreign-nationals reveals the human impacts of this complex and legally technical structure. These prosecutions expose suspects to unfamiliar police investigative procedures, legal processes and potentially harsh forms of criminal punishment, including the death penalty. Global Criminology discusses the relationship between the International Criminal Court and domestic justice in dealing with grave forms of ‘atrocity crime’, and recent developments in the European Union that invoke the mutual recognition of national court decisions in the absence of a centralised criminal justice structure. In emphasising the need for more sustained comparative research into current national responses to transnational, international and cross-national criminal activity, the text seeks to stimulate further research examining the very meaning of global criminal justice, with a view to promoting consistency, fairness and the protection of crime suspects through the rule of law, rather than the laws of political diplomacy.