NCJ Number
188881
Journal
Youth and Society Volume: 32 Issue: 4 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 492-509
Date Published
June 2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the trend in juvenile and youth crime in China, which has been on the increase during the past 40 years.
Abstract
With the assistance of literature derived from Chinese policy documents and criminological sources, this article highlights the essence of Chinese Marxist criminological thought and the changing conceptions of delinquency from the post-revolutionary period to the present. It also examines official responses to delinquency as well as the recent development of juvenile justice in China. Official concepts of crime and juvenile delinquency are divided into three types that cover different periods of the post-revolutionary era, although these concepts overlap one another. In the immediate post-revolutionary period from 1949 to 1966, juvenile delinquency was not viewed as a separate social problem, but rather as part of the overall crime issue. In 1966, the radical left launched the cultural revolution to maintain and strengthen Mao's ideas of a radical socialist society and bolster his position in the leadership of the Communist party and the government. The upsurge of juvenile crime in the late 1970's and early 1980's attracted attention from the communist leaders. In tracing juvenile delinquency to the destabilizing impact of the cultural revolution, China's political leaders sought to discredit the Gang of Four ideology and political practices. The 1980's witnessed a radical departure in the official and professional views on crime causation, as the "class struggle" was no longer viewed as the only and ultimate explanation of juvenile delinquency, and the focus was on the strengthening of informal and formal social controls. On one hand, people are monitored by all sorts of committees and party officials, and they are punished harshly if they commit serious offenses. On the other hand, there is a wide spectrum of community-based programs based on humanitarian ideas, particularly for juvenile offenders. The article concludes that the current system of delinquency control and juvenile justice should gradually move toward the adoption of a just restorative approach. 3 tables and 47 references