Criminal Justice Systems Around the World

Criminal justice systems can be loosely classified as either common, civil, Islamic or socialist law in nature. However, today many jurisdictions have adopted hybrid models that combine elements of various legal systems. Many of these systems share a common set of core values. In addition, most criminal justice systems have adopted a legality principle.

Although organized differently, most criminal justice systems are made up of the following parts:

• Police
• Prison Officials
• Prosecutors, Procurators, or their equivalent
• Judges
• Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Jury (lay people acting as fact finders).
• Defendant(s)
• Victims