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A descriptive survey of the national law enforcement and corrections systems of 183 countries of the world. Within each country available information is organzed under: history and background; structure and organization; recruitment, education and training; and penal system. Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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Library Journal Review

This describes law enforcement and corrections systems of 183 nations. Two-thirds of the countries are covered in full entries of 200 to several thousand words and generally include police history, background, organization, and personnel practices, as well as crime statistics and summaries of penal systems. Appendixes describe Interpol and provide police agency addresses, comparative statistics, and a disappointingly short bibliography. Although Kurian mentions information-gathering problems in Eastern Europe and less-developed countries, he has amassed a great deal of data for a very useful resource. John Andrade's World Police & Paramilitary Forces (Stockton Pr., 1986) covers much of the police material, but this provides more detail and also includes penal systems. Recommended.-- Mary Jane Brustman, SUNY at Albany Libs. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Kurian's sixth venture into compiling a worldwide reference work, the earlier ones including the Book of World Rankings (CH, Apr '80), the Atlas of the Third World (CH, Apr '84), and the World Press Encyclopedia (CH, Sep '82). This current book describes police forces and corrections in 183 countries. Entries are arranged alphabetically by country name within one of two cumbersome categories--major countries or smaller countries and microstates--the category depending on the amount of information available on that country. Each entry ideally consists of a "Basic Fact Sheet" (population, currency, GNP); the structure and organization of the police system; recruitment, education, and training of police cadets; and a brief discussion of the penal system. Many entries also include crime statistics, usually from the early 1980s. The information is similar to that found in Harold K. and Donna L. Becker's Handbook of the World's Police (CH, Sep '86) and John M. Andrade's World Police and Paramilitary Forces (1985) except that Kurian's work also deals with corrections. A major shortcoming of the new reference work is the lack of references consulted. Where did Kurian get the information for each country? Many times the reader is left with the phrase "no current information is available." What is "current"? Which sources were checked? The idea behind this book is great; however, the lack of cited sources gives little credibility to the information. Not recommended. -K. Salomon, Oakland University