Abstract:The United Nations Third Survey of Crime and Criminal Justice (United Nations 1987) contains data on global criminal justice expenditure. The data show that between 1982 and 1986 there was a trend of increased expenditure on criminal justice. At the same time crime rates increased. This paper examines criminal justice expenditure in different parts of the system, in an attempt to discover whether there are patterns to global criminal justice expenditure. The author concludes that criminal justice expenditure is more concerned with political and ideological objectives than with feasible criminal justice outcomes.