Social Control of Crime in Japan
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8305600311 |
| Author | Carl B. Becker |
| Date | 01 July 1983 |
| Published date | 01 July 1983 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CARL
B. BECKER
Assistant Professor, Department
of
Philosophy,
Southern Illinois University.
SOCIAL
CONTROL
OF
CRIME
IN
JAPAN
This paper investigates the reasons behind the extremely low crime
rate in industrialized Japan, considering three separate types of
differences between Japanese and Western criminal control and
social justice.
(1) Differences in law enforcement are the reasons most often
mentioned in professional journals for Japan's low crime rate; these.
include longer professional training, high esprit de corps among
officers, a more efficient court system, and strict bans on handguns in
Japan. None of these features taken alone, however, has been shown
to have a direct effect on crime rate per se.
(2) Public cooperation with the police is marked, both on
individual and community levels. Japanese citizens frequently
volunteer for police-supporting or parole-board activities.
Moreover, the Japanese are quick to influence their mass media and
laws when this seems desirable.
(3) Japanese values of interdependence (social harmony), of
responsibility for the fates of others, and of honourand shame in the
family or social group are deep-rooted; examples are provided in
each category. Even the exceptional cases where crime is rising
(Tokyo juveniles) demonstrate the necessity of these invisible values
as checks on criminal behaviour.
These social values were imported by the once crime-ridden
Japanese themselves from China centuries ago, so it is
not
unthinkable that other cultures may benefit by adopting or
inculcating social sanctions of Asian ethical values, as well as by
copying the strong points of the.Japanese criminal justice system.
As Japanese industry and business gradually overtook our own in
the past decade, studies comparing the differences in Western and
Japanese business practices have become almost commonplace. A
less studied
but
equally important area in which
Japan
tells a success
story is in its extremely low crime rate. Only a few studies have even
tried to touch on the reasons for this success, but the comparisons
and observations of differences will prove fruitful as well as
interesting. This study willcite the traditionally-given reasons for the
success of the Japanese in eliminating crime, and emphasize some
older, deeper, sociological and philosophical differences as
fundamental.
July 1983 269
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