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Crime and Custom in an Orderly Society: The Singapore Prototype

NCJ Number
106844
Journal
Criminology Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1987) Pages: 279-294
Author(s)
W T Austin
Date Published
1987
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Based on five months of field work in Singapore, this study examines the style of law and order in a densely populated, island city-state.
Abstract
In addition to providing descriptive accounts of what some now regard as a highly regimented, if not repressive society, the relevance of Singapore to criminological theory is explored. How police-community relations have altered as a result of massive urban renewal programs is set forth. Further clarification is given several of Black's propositions regarding the behavior of law and to Adler's critique of low-crime nations. An interpretation of Singapore systems of social control from a conflict theory stance is discussed. (Publisher abstract)