Diplomatic staff were requested to provide the Australian Institute of Criminology with two main items of information: national expenditures related to criminal justice (i.e., police, courts, prisons) and expenditures for all government activities (i.e., total budgetary expenditure). Expenditure data for 50 nations were collected, although only information supplied with respect to 32 of the nations was deemed accurate enough to use for this initial paper. Tables show the selected characteristics of the 32 countries and criminal justice expenditures for each country for a 12-month period since 1975. While most of the countries are in Asia, Europe, and Oceania, all five world regions are represented. Their population, size, and level of economic development are diverse. In most countries surveyed large amounts of public finance are spent on criminal justice services. For example, the United States spend about $20 billion on criminal justice during 1975-76, New Zealand spend NZ 175 million during 1977-78, and Denmark spent about K2,130 for the same period. The proportion of total budgetary expenditure devoted to criminal justice varies considerably among the countries surveyed. Cyprus, Turkey, the Solomon Islands, and Western Samoa allocated comparatively high proportions of their total budgetary expenditure to criminal justice services, whereas Fiji, Israel, Italy, and New Zealand devoted a relatively small proportion of their total expenditure to crime control. In all countries surveyed expenditures for police were greater than those for other criminal justice services. A brief comparison between patterns of expenditure in Australia and other countries is presented. Additional data on the population, gross national product, and area of selected countries are appended as is further information on criminal justice expenditures in the selected countries. Six notes and 14 references are included.