NCJ Number
144167
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 39 Issue: 3 Dated: special issue (July 1993) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
D J Curran,
S Cook
Date Published
1993
Length
223 pages
Annotation
These eight articles are intended to provide new information regarding China and Japan, challenge commonly held assumptions about their crime problems and criminal justice systems, and provide a basis for better understanding of the two societies.
Abstract
An introduction notes that China is commonly viewed as a society in which governmental control over the individual is almost absolute and which has no crime problem and that Japan is perceived as a society of order, conformity, and safety. An analysis of Japanese society challenges the notion of the country as a "shame culture" where social pressures to force all individuals to conform, notes that nonconformity is significant and highly visible in Japanese juvenile subcultures, and describes Japanese street gangs and organized crime. An additional paper explores the fears and handling of juveniles in the People's Republic of China, with emphasis on the increasing fear of crime among youths, their distrust of the justice system relative to their elders, increasing juvenile delinquency in China, theories proposed by Chinese scholars, and the gongdu (work-study) system in which most youthful offenders in China are placed. Further papers examine policing and police procedure in China and note its increasing selectivity, discuss illegal activities and immigration policies in Hong Kong, challenge the common belief that a complex organization of Chinese criminals is responsible for heroin exportation from Southeast Asia, and examine the increasing fear of crime in Japan and the gap between perceptions and realities. Chapter reference lists