ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1 it was made clear that criminologists not only concern themselves with the problems of defining, measuring, and explaining crime, they are also concerned with how the criminal justice system works, or fails to work, for the criminals, victims, and the professionals who are involved with it. For many criminologists this concern centres on whether any criminal justice system works in a fair and equal way for the people who come into contact with it. This means that criminologists are also interested in questions of what counts as justice and for whom. In order to make any comments on justice, of course, it is necessary for a criminologist to have some kind of understanding of how a criminal justice system works. So this chapter will introduce the reader to some understanding of the nature of criminal justice systems as well as highlighting the kinds of questions that criminologists might ask about them.
