NCJ Number
184302
Date Published
July 2000
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This paper examines crime reported to police in Hong Kong since post-war 1945, with a focus on the nature and prevalence of crime recorded by law enforcement agencies and reported by crime victims.
Abstract
One table presents data on recorded crime for 1989 and 1998. The most common crimes recorded by the police were burglary, wound and assault, theft from persons, criminal damage, shop theft, and "other" thefts. The data show that robbery, serious narcotics offenses, motor vehicle theft, and fraud and forgery are in proportional decline; whereas, thefts (other than burglary), indecent assault, and criminal damage increased in proportion to overall crime. Approximately 20 percent of reported crime involved violence, but this relatively high proportion is reduced to approximately 12 percent when minor offenses are included in total crime. Reported crimes led to the arrest of 43,684 persons in 1989, a rate of 852 per 100,000; and in 1998, 40,422 were arrested at 654 per 100,000 persons. In 1989 juveniles accounted for 17 percent of all arrests, but 14.8 percent in 1998. The response to crime in Hong Kong shows less dependence on the level of economic development than previously thought, and a close relationship between the presumed effects of modernization and crime have not emerged, in part because fundamental shifts and shocks in Hong Kong's economy, demography, and social development have occurred in complex ways. The data do not support a linear relationship between crime and economic growth; and even at its peak, crime in Hong Kong remained well below most comparable societies. 4 tables, 2 figures, and 28 references