questions about one's own. Until one observes that another system has a
different approach, one might not even consider raising an important question.
For example, on discovering that England does not allow counsel to undertake
detailed questioning of prospective jurors in criminal trials (the voir dire
process), a reader might be tempted to ask whether such a modification should
be advocated for the United States. Answering this question would involve an
examination of the rationale for having voir dire and a weighing of the factors
militating for and against its abolition. Additionally, one would have to question
whether England has lost a valuable feature of the trial process that has not been
compensated for in some other way.

There are a number of rationales for choosing the English system of criminal
justice as the focus of study. First, the U.S. systems of criminal justice are for
the most part derived from the English system. As a consequence, it is helpful
to examine the roots of our current systems to understand more fully why they
have been established in the manner they have. Of more than passing interest
is the fact that the criminal justice systems of the United States retain some
features of the old English criminal justice system that England has since
modified. Thus the states still categorize crimes as felonies and misdemeanors,
and generally employ grand juries to investigate allegations of wrongdoing
and/or return bills of indictment. In England the division of crimes into felonies
and misdemeanors was done away with in 1967. Grand juries were abolished
in 1933.

Second, it is often most instructive to examine something that is in some ways
similar to and in others different from the object under investigation. In this
case, since the criminal justice systems of England and the United States are
for the most part derived from the same initial model, there are a vast number
of similarities between the systems. However, as has already been demon-
strated, there are sufficient differences to make a comparative study worthwhile.
Throughout the course of this book differences between the systems will be
highlighted and discussed.

Another advantage that accrues from focusing on the system of a nation with
a shared heritage and a similar form of government is that cultural, economic,
social, and political differences between the two countries are small enough to
allow for the possibility of one country adopting a procedure that has been
proven to be highly successful in the other country. History abounds with
examples of procedures being transposed from one country to another without
due consideration of cultural differences. Thus, for example, it could be
suggested that some of the difficulties that African countries have faced are the
result of European colonists imposing their systems of law and government
without paying proper attention to the indigenous culture. Similarly, lessons
that may be drawn from an examination of the legal systems of the former Soviet
Union or China cannot be applied to the United States without considering the

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