NCJ Number
153271
Date Published
1995
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This is a video of a seminar in which Marvin Wolfgang describes the methodology and preliminary results from a 1973 birth cohort study of delinquency in a city in the People's Republic of China.
Abstract
Wolfgang first reviews his personal contacts with criminal justice professionals and criminologists in China, followed by an overview of crime and justice in China. He reports an increase in the crime rate in recent years and a policy of severe punishment for serious criminals; 40 percent of offenders are sentenced to fixed terms of 5 years or more. The seminar then turns to the 1973 birth cohort study for a Chinese city. Data are being collected by trained researchers from police records, household census data, and interviews with neighborhood committees, school personnel, and parents. The birth cohort consists of 5,300 subjects. Of these, only 81 subjects (76 males and 5 females) have committed known delinquent acts. This is the smallest percentage of delinquents in any birth-cohort study in any country. Wolfgang presents findings from a comparison of the characteristics of the delinquent group with a sample nondelinquent group. Differences are noted in the areas of educational achievement, school-related behaviors and attitudes, employment, goals in life, interests, and family background. The plan is to continue the study through the year 2000. The video concludes with a few questions from seminar participants.