Youth Crime in Contemporary Japan: Toward the Construction of a General Social Systems Theory

• NCJ Number: 118758
• Author(s): C R Fenwick
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 35 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Paper presented at the British Criminology Conference, Bristol, England, 1989

Annotation

A model is presented for assessing the effect of macro processes in societal modernization and development on changes in culture, the social system, and crime.

Abstract

Societies are organized on a conventional crime continuum, with rough divisions into high, medium, and low, corresponding to the United States, England, and Japan, respectively. In accounting for varied crime rates, the model hypothesizes that changes in crime can be explained at least in part by employing a "routine activities approach" and by examining features of the social ecology and their effect on crime. Social system features of the model are family interaction, work organization, school activities, neighborhood activities, justice system organization, and related beliefs and values. Independent variables of the model include distributions of bonding, guardians, general deterrence, associations with law-violating peers, violence levels, recreational space, discretionary time, law enforcement authority, and justice system involvement. Crime facilitators in the model encompass guns, alcohol, illegal drugs, urban incivilities, and neighborhood neglect and decline. Appendixes contain crime statistics for Japan, the United States, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. 60 references.