NCJ Number
111596
Journal
Chinese Education Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1986) Pages: 75-91
Date Published
1986
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Based on a study of criminal youth groups in the People's Republic of China, such groups are usually composed of three or more juveniles who share a criminal intention or inclination, and whose members do not know about or participate in all crimes committed by the group.
Abstract
Members of such groups reject the prevalent social values and attitudes; deny the binding force of social discipline, ethics, and law; and seek respect, appreciation, and gratification of improper tastes and desires through group membership. The birth of criminal groups requires a sufficient number of juveniles with criminal inclinations in a given area, opportunities for them to meet, and society's inability to prevent them from committing crimes. The cultural revolution contributed to the rise of criminal gangs in China by undermining the process of juvenile socialization. Further, recent changes in economic and cultural policies has contributed to money-worshipping and a bourgeois tendency of liberalization and cultural pollution. Finally, political, legal, and public security departments have been ineffective in dealing with criminal offenders. Concerted efforts are needed to eliminate such criminal groups, to reform and reeducate those amenable to such treatment, and to apply appropriate criminal sanctions.