NCJ Number
74675
Date Published
1980
Length
12 pages
Annotation
A Japanese criminologist examines crime prevention planning in Japan as a part of formal national planning, as well as of local communities attempting to meet new crime prevention needs related to new crime patterns.
Abstract
Crime patterns in postwar Japan included a rapid increase in property offenses caused by socioeconomic dislocations and cultural upheavals. Since 1949, however, while minor property crimes have continued to increase very slightly, violent crimes against persons have been steadily decreasing. Law and order and public safety are not threatened in today's Japan, where only petty theft, traffic violations, and drug-related offenses require police intervention. Crime prevention planning, however, should also consider isolated instances of organized crime, terrorism, environmental pollution, and corruption, along with increasing female and juvenile crime. This paper describes special crime prevention programs in the areas of traffic safety, juvenile delinquency, and mobilization of community support to ensure the programs' successful implementation. A 1970-1975 criminological research program studied the correlation between social change and crime in the setting of the rapidly developing Japanese seaport of Kashima. Findings disclosed an increase in juvenile crime, as well as crimes committed by migrant workers brought into the newly industrialized area, formerly a cluster of quiet residential neighborhoods. Unable to cope with the increasing crime rate, the Kashima police sponsored community-supported crime control and crime prevention programs, which were, unfortunately, ignored by their target populations -- the local young people and the migrant workers.