- University of Manchester
Criminology Department
School of Social Sciences
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
United Kingdom - +44 (0)7803903739
- Eclectic research interests, but over the years my research can be categorised broadly around two areas: first, compa... moreEclectic research interests, but over the years my research can be categorised broadly around two areas: first, comparative criminology, mainly China, Greater China/Taiwan; second, demystifying the 'smoke and mirrors' of contemporary crime and criminal justice, including sexual crime, sentencing and 'enforcement' of judicial penalties. I have successfully supervised over a dozen Manchester Ph.D. students.
As well as my previous teaching and research in the Criminology Department where I now have an Honorary appointment, I have been a research affiliate and member of the steering committee of the University's Manchester China Institute. Outside of the UK, my main research networks have included: the Asian Criminological Society and the Association of Chinese Criminology and Criminal Justice in the US (where I was previously a founding Board member in 2010, Newsletter Editor of ACCCJUS and eventually President of ACCCJUS 2018-2020). The ACCCJUS annual general meeting takes place during the annual meetings of the American Society of Criminology.
In autumn 2013, I was appointed Series Editor of the new Palgrave Advances in Criminology and Criminal Justice in Asia (my co editors are Professors Jou (National Taipei University, Taiwan) and Chang (Deakin University, Australia)). This is intended as a flagship book series by Palgrave-Macmillan which aims to establish a strong publishing home for criminological research on and in the Asian region. We have some 20 titles in the Series including, 'Offending Women in Contemporary China' (Anqi Shen); 'Policing in Hong Kong' (KC Wong); 'Victim-Offender Reconciliation in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan' (R Berti); 'Cloaking White Collar Crime in Hong Kong's Property Sector' (Y. Fun); and ‘Bullying and Violence in South Korea’ (T Bax) . Others include 'Popular Participation in Japanese Criminal Justice' (Watson); 'Women in the Hong Kong Police Force' (Ho); and 'Women Judges in Contemporary China' (Shen); 'Governance, Social Control and Legal Reform in China: community Sanctions and Measures' (Qi Chen); 'Crime in Japan' (Laura Bui & David Farrington); 'Transnational Drug Trafficking Across the Vietnam-Laos Border' (Luong); 'Children and Crime in India' (Parackal & Panicker); and in 2020, 'The Culture of Capital Punishment in Japan' (David Johnson); 'Towards a Malaysian Criminology' (M. Quraishi). In 2022 'Life Imprisonment in Asia', edited by D van Zyl Smit, C. Appleton, and Giao Vucong; and ten years on, we've added David T Johnson's 'Japan's Prosecution Review Commission' to our series in 2023 - see https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-19373-6
I regularly review proposals for major publishers on crime and criminal justice in Greater China/Asia and have previously served on editorial boards of several academic journals. I was delighted to co-edit (with Cao Liqun, Lu Hong and Jonathan Lee) a special issue of the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology on 'Crime, Criminology and Criminal Justice in Greater China' published online in 2021. With Doris Chu ((Taiwan) and Albert Toh (USA) I have also been undertaking some macro level comparative analyses of gender (in)equality indicators and female offending and incarceration and with findings recently published. My latest journal publication, with Cliff Bacon and Leo McCann, considers the state of police (re)-professionalisation in England and Wales.
Currently, with Terry Thomas, I am finalising a research paper which makes use of archive and primary sources, re-visiting the academic knowledge generated by individual scholars of the period of the 1970s, and early 80s on sexuality, age and harm; work now itself seen as morally suspect by some. The paper examines the legacy of academic engagement, including how such scholarship was initially received and challenged; and how in the modern age of new social media those same academics are being ‘called to account’ anew both for their contributions in the past and in their current ‘suspect’ and ‘spoiled’ identities. In a wider sense the paper necessarily raises the vexed matter of ‘eras’ in knowledge production and raises for interrogation the associated concept of ‘knowledge accumulation’ in social science.edit
The occupation of policing is in crisis. Criticism of police failings has created intense pressure for the traditional 'occupational closure' model of policing as a craft to be replaced by new 'professional' models associated with... more
The occupation of policing is in crisis. Criticism of police failings has created intense pressure for the traditional 'occupational closure' model of policing as a craft to be replaced by new 'professional' models associated with 'evidence-based policing', harm reduction, risk management and vulnerability. Various change initiatives have amounted to the 're-professionalisation' of policing, whereby previous models of police professionalism based on craft, discretion and judgement have been abandoned and replaced by new protocols, guidelines and enhanced external scrutiny. This article explores how these changes are interpreted by operational police officers, using qualitative interviews and ethnographic fieldwork to explore officers' application and understanding of the new requirements. Whereas some literature argues that 'police culture' remains largely unchanged, our data illustrate how officers' daily routines are in a state of enforced flux. While there was some limited support for the rationale for change, officers were highly critical of the practical implementation of policing vulnerability, were sceptical of the new doctrine of 'professionalism', and resentful of new managerial controls and priorities. This does not amount to the stubborn persistence of a 'reform-proof' police culture. Rather, officers described substantial change to the everyday culture and practice of policing, in ways they regard as confused, self-defeating and unworkable. We argue that professionalisation imposed ‘from above’ via dogmatic managerial logic can have detrimental implications for occupations and the public they serve.
Research Interests:
This article examines the nature of female incarceration patterns globally and regionally in relation to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 138 countries. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative... more
This article examines the nature of female incarceration patterns globally and regionally in relation to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 138 countries. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative gender-specific indicator (the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index) to determine relative levels of gender equality. Results of our study show that globally, countries with a narrower gender gap in economic participation made higher use of female incarceration, and this was also the case in the Asian and European regions. Countries with a narrower gap in political empowerment were found to have lower female incarceration rates globally and in the European region, but have higher female incarceration rates in the African region. Limitations are noted and suggestions for future studies are made.
Research Interests:
Empirical research conducted in the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe has accumulated over the last 50 years and has identified links between mainstream crime (e.g. violence and acquisitive crime) and driving offences... more
Empirical research conducted in the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe has accumulated over the last 50 years and has identified links between mainstream crime (e.g. violence and acquisitive crime) and driving offences (e.g. dangerous driving, drink driving, driving while disqualified). Put simply, international evidence reveals that a driver's willingness to commit driving offences tends to be associated with a willingness to commit other types of offence. Unlike the Anglophone countries and Europe, no peer-reviewed published research in Greater China has considered this matter empirically. Our article uses data from a data set ( n = 368) of those convicted of causing death by dangerous driving over a 4-year period (2014 − 2018) in Taipei City, capital of Taiwan, to examine associations with prior criminal history and criminal versatility in this sample of convicted drivers. Our analysis indicates the following results: the Taiwanese sample of serious driving offenders had a somewhat low prevalence of prior conviction – over 70% had no prior conviction record. None of the measures used provides evidence for any significant ‘versatility’ on the part of drivers convicted of serious driving offences. Further studies in Taiwan scrutinizing patterns in driving and mainstream criminal offences are needed, as are more nuanced analyses of the versatility of offending. Our article makes recommendations for further research in Taiwan.
Research Interests:
This paper examines the nature of female offending patterns in relationship to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 27 European countries for the year 2006. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative... more
This paper examines the nature of female offending patterns in relationship to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 27 European countries for the year 2006. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative indicator (the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index) to determine relative levels of gender equality. Results show that countries with a narrower gender gap in the Global Gender Gap indexes of political empowerment were likely to have a higher female prosecution rate, and that political empowerment was also significantly associated with female conviction rates as well as rates of property offending. The pattern of results generally supports the liberation thesis. Finally, limitations and suggestions for future study are addressed.
This is a modified Chinese language version of our paper which appeared in American Review of China Studies (2019), entitled "Capital Punishment in China: public opinion, politics and governance".
Our editors’ introduction has three parts. First, a short history of the development of the Association of Chinese Criminology and Criminal justice in the United States (ACCCJ), which fills a formal gap, since there is no current... more
Our editors’ introduction has three parts. First, a short history of the development of the Association of Chinese Criminology and Criminal justice in the United States (ACCCJ), which fills a formal gap, since there is no current published historical backdrop to the institutional development of the Association. Second, a necessarily brief analysis of the development of criminology in Chinese societies over the last decade (2010–2020). Finally, a contextualisation of the papers selected for this special issue of the journal.
Co-authored with Liqun Cao, this article examines capital punishment in China, paying special attention to public opinion. We argue that public opinion is an elusive concept, capable of use as an instrument of political governance.... more
Co-authored with Liqun Cao, this article examines capital punishment in China, paying special attention to public opinion. We argue that public opinion is an elusive concept, capable of use as an instrument of political governance. China’s Party-State, seeking as ever to maintain authority and legitimacy, has (partly) adopted a strategy of responsiveness to outbursts of public sentiment. Yet, public opinion should not be used as an excuse to retain the death penalty, especially when there is an asymmetry of information flow in China. We also consider the major arguments against capital punishment and empirical evidence on the deterrence effect of the death penalty; we urge criminologists in China to develop more deterrence studies within China. Although we are not optimistic about China’s full abolishment of capital punishment in the near future, we would hope to see the Chinese government fulfill its promise of eventual abolishment.
Research Interests:
While a substantial number of studies have examined public opinion on the death penalty in the USA, and more recently parts of Asia, including China, very few empirical studies have considered support for the death penalty in Taiwan. This... more
While a substantial number of studies have examined public opinion on the death penalty in the USA, and more recently parts of Asia, including China, very few empirical studies have considered support for the death penalty in Taiwan. This paper examines public attitudes in Taiwan and the role of ‘value conflict’ in attitudes to both death penalty abolition and in the context of alternatives. Using the results of 1016 respondents drawn from a national face-to-face sample (n= 2039) survey conducted by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) in 2014, we demonstrate that public attitudes in Taiwan are simultaneously committed to many underlying values in conflict. The results also indicate that value conflict exists among the majority of the sample (more than 60 per cent) who are prepared to accept alternatives to abolition, and whom we can describe as ambivalent. Recognition of value conflict, ambivalence and the moral psychology underpinning public attitudes to the death ...
Research Interests:
In 2004, Liqun Cao penned an essay for the American Society of Criminology's official Newsletter, The Criminologist, entitled. "The State of Criminology in China". Over a decade later, Liqun and I felt that 2018 was a good time for taking... more
In 2004, Liqun Cao penned an essay for the American Society of Criminology's official Newsletter, The Criminologist, entitled. "The State of Criminology in China". Over a decade later, Liqun and I felt that 2018 was a good time for taking stock (again) and in this short piece we provide our own personal re-assessment of the picture in China for the wider audience of criminologists in the USA.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT This article considers the contemporary architecture of criminal record usage in England and Wales. We focus upon impact on ‘employment status’, partly because work is often now seen as key to good health and other self-esteem... more
ABSTRACT This article considers the contemporary architecture of criminal record usage in England and Wales. We focus upon impact on ‘employment status’, partly because work is often now seen as key to good health and other self-esteem indicators in the modern world. First, we examine in the context of England and Wales, (a) the development of the contemporary criminal record system and extent of availability of prior record information in terms of employment (and other licensing purposes) and (b) the factors that helped shape the current architecture. Second, this article outlines what is known from the British criminological literature on employment and conviction records and what more is needed in terms of criminological research. Finally, we consider how convictions become ‘spent' – in particular the English approach to ‘expungement'/sealing of the criminal record according to the 1974 Rehabilitation of Offenders legislation.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The often held belief that sex crimes are somehow 'different' to other forms of crime has found a new expression in the USA. Sex Offender Registration schemes now exist in the vast majority of States and some States have also... more
The often held belief that sex crimes are somehow 'different' to other forms of crime has found a new expression in the USA. Sex Offender Registration schemes now exist in the vast majority of States and some States have also started so-called Community Notification Schemes. ...
Research Interests:
On a practical level we have seen from Chapter 1 that some degree of European police co-operation has been attempted for the last 100 years. Today we are presented with a number of up-and-running models of co-operation that have been... more
On a practical level we have seen from Chapter 1 that some degree of European police co-operation has been attempted for the last 100 years. Today we are presented with a number of up-and-running models of co-operation that have been entered into by European police forces, from formalized projects to abandon frontier controls altogether through to various informal mechanisms of direct cross border co-operation.
Research Interests:
This article examines the nature of female1 incarceration patterns globally and regionally in relation to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 138 countries. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative... more
This article examines the nature of female1 incarceration patterns globally and regionally in relation to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 138 countries. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative gender-specific indicator (the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index) to determine relative levels of gender equality. Results of our study show that globally, countries with a narrower gender gap in economic participation made higher use of female incarceration, and this was also the case in the Asian and European regions. Countries with a narrower gap in political empowerment were found to have lower female incarceration rates globally and in the European region, but have higher female incarceration rates in the African region. Limitations are noted and suggestions for future studies are made.
Research Interests:
The development of a notion of ‘permanent security deficit’ has been crucial in helping to determine and, as we argue, restructure police work in the new Europe. Within the context of the steps towards European union, no matter has been... more
The development of a notion of ‘permanent security deficit’ has been crucial in helping to determine and, as we argue, restructure police work in the new Europe. Within the context of the steps towards European union, no matter has been more the subject of intense discussion and debate than that of border controls: it has had an ‘activating presence’ (a term borrowed from Bauman 1978). The removal of border controls and their relationship to the ‘threats’ of illegal immigration and cross-border crime have structured this internal security field (Bourdieu 1989). Much of this is termed ‘new’ and is itself the product of the creation of institutions to ‘deal with’ these perceived ‘new threats’. At the heart of this restructuring are processes of ‘linking and glossing’, whereby separate activities of drug trafficking, terrorism, money-laundering, illegal immmigration, extreme right movements and football hooliganism are assembled into a causal ‘field of intervention’.
Research Interests:
Closer co-operation between the police forces of Europe inevitably has a ‘recoil effect’ on the domestic policing arrangements of each nation involved. In this chapter we trace the nature of this ‘recoil effect’ on domestic policing... more
Closer co-operation between the police forces of Europe inevitably has a ‘recoil effect’ on the domestic policing arrangements of each nation involved. In this chapter we trace the nature of this ‘recoil effect’ on domestic policing arrangements in the UK and possible future developments. We consider, first of all, the nature of ‘compensatory measures’ that the British police have taken, or would like to take, as the internal borders between the EU member states have been lowered, including the creation of some new national policing structures giving the UK police a clearer voice in Europe.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Empirical research conducted in the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe has accumulated over the last 50 years and has identified links between mainstream crime (e.g. violence and acquisitive crime) and driving offences... more
Empirical research conducted in the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe has accumulated over the last 50 years and has identified links between mainstream crime (e.g. violence and acquisitive crime) and driving offences (e.g. dangerous driving, drink driving, driving while disqualified). Put simply, international evidence reveals that a driver's willingness to commit driving offences tends to be associated with a willingness to commit other types of offence. Unlike the Anglophone countries and Europe, no peer-reviewed published research in Greater China has considered this matter empirically. Our article uses data from a data set (n = 368) of those convicted of causing death by dangerous driving over a 4-year period (2014 − 2018) in Taipei City, capital of Taiwan, to examine associations with prior criminal history and criminal versatility in this sample of convicted drivers. Our analysis indicates the following results: the Taiwanese sample of serious driving offenders had a somewhat low prevalence of prior convictionover 70% had no prior conviction record. None of the measures used provides evidence for any significant 'versatility' on the part of drivers convicted of serious driving offences. Further studies in Taiwan scrutinizing patterns in driving and mainstream criminal offences are needed, as are more nuanced analyses of the versatility of offending. Our article makes recommendations for further research in Taiwan.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Sociology and Criminology
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Many commentators have pointed to the monstrous nature of sexual violence, with its related sense of pollution and disgust. In response, post-release regulation has a ‘hot’ quality: in the USA, sexually violent predator statutes,... more
Many commentators have pointed to the monstrous nature of sexual violence, with its related sense of pollution and disgust. In response, post-release regulation has a ‘hot’ quality: in the USA, sexually violent predator statutes, residency requirements, GPS satellite monitoring, and variations on the theme of community notification all speak of the expressiveness of the response. ‘Hot’ signifies and has embedded within it an ‘individualist’ rather than ‘structural’ account of action, emphasises a dramaturgical reading of the social world, and privileges the political rather than the problem-solving sphere. What has been far less explored, until recently, is research and prevention policy related specifically to the sexual violence itself, or the situation in which the offense occurs. By contrast to the ‘hot’ response, elision from offender to situation appears to betoken a ‘cold’ quality. This paper analyses the conceptual and empirical underpinnings of such a ‘cold’ situational approach, evaluates existing studies across settings, and assesses the implications of this problem-solving process for prevention policy and practice. It concludes by embedding the analysis within a broader precautionary politics of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ control.
Research Interests:
Examines the subjective experiences of 188 juveniles who took part in a police -initiated anti-juvenile crime project "Operation Breakthrough". with a particular focus on the juveniles' ;perceptions of police officers encountered in the... more
Examines the subjective experiences of 188 juveniles who took part in a police -initiated anti-juvenile crime project "Operation Breakthrough". with a particular focus on the juveniles' ;perceptions of police officers encountered in the project. Results analysed and thematically coded. Concludes with suggestions on how more positive images of police officers can be developed.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Acknowledgements - Preface - The Europeanization of Policing - A Multiplicity of Perspectives - Practical Police Co-operation and Possible Models - Implications of Closer Co-operation for UK Policing and Criminal Justice - Europe - A New... more
Acknowledgements - Preface - The Europeanization of Policing - A Multiplicity of Perspectives - Practical Police Co-operation and Possible Models - Implications of Closer Co-operation for UK Policing and Criminal Justice - Europe - A New Police Terrain - Conclusions - Bibliography - Index
Research Interests:
Information throughout the Western world has come to be seen as a resource, and the tool which has facilitated this is the computer. Computerized communication, information storage and exchange have come to be seen as being at the heart... more
Information throughout the Western world has come to be seen as a resource, and the tool which has facilitated this is the computer. Computerized communication, information storage and exchange have come to be seen as being at the heart of counter-measures against the ‘security deficit’ in the new Europe. Although usually presented in the context of a resource-led measure to increase efficiency and deal with increased crime levels, it is clear that police computerization and the collection, storage and use of personal information has its own, separate trajectory. Our view is that understanding the shape of this ‘informatization’ of police work can aid in predicting the emergent key practice of policing the new Europe.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
An academic directory and search engine.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology and Burnout
Personal and household insurance can protect the population from risks of large, low probability financial losses in exchange for a manageable cost. Rational models prescribe that insurance purchase decisions should be made by weighing... more
Personal and household insurance can protect the population from risks of large, low probability financial losses in exchange for a manageable cost. Rational models prescribe that insurance purchase decisions should be made by weighing the utility of loss outcomes by the probabilities of their occurrence. In contrast, research from bounded rationality perspectives has revealed how people construct simplified representations of insured events, base probability judgments on heuristics, are susceptible to cost framing effects and use simple decision rules based on judgment thresholds. Furthermore, emotions such as worry, and anticipated peace of mind influence insurance choices. While insurance brings societal benefits it can also bring significant detriments related to its moral hazards. In recent years, for example, concerns have grown that much insurance held by individuals may be inappropriate for their needs or obtained due to misleading information provided by the seller. Such mis-selling of insurance has many sources, including the complexity of insurance products, the limited understanding of some consumers, the bundling of insurance with other products, pecuniary incentives, malevolent behaviour or the culture of the entire firm. Neo-liberal approaches to consumer protection encourage consumers to accept responsibility for their insurance decisions and to inform and educate themselves accordingly. Others argue that this is insufficient and in addition, consumer protection and conduct of business regulation should be strengthened. Insurance fraud, which exists on a continuum, is also detrimental to society. Although most estimates show it is widespread, its actual prevalence is unclear, in part because much insurance fraud goes undetected. Recent developments in combating fraud include high-level co-ordination of detection activity, the use of predictive analytics, revised guidelines on sentencing and the use of moral cues to discourage false claims. More generally, studies across varied cultural contexts illustrate how moral hazards embedded in the social organisation of insurance lead to various kinds of immoral risky behaviour by those insured, insurance companies, and their employees. This recognition that moral risks are not limited to the insured person is key to understanding the insurance fraud-moral hazard overlap and how it plays out in the wider moral economy of insurance.
Research Interests:
The occupation of policing is in crisis. Criticism of police failings has created intense pressure for the traditional ‘occupational closure’ model of policing as a craft to be replaced by new ‘professional’ models associated with... more
The occupation of policing is in crisis. Criticism of police failings has created intense pressure for the traditional ‘occupational closure’ model of policing as a craft to be replaced by new ‘professional’ models associated with ‘evidence-based policing’, harm reduction, risk management and vulnerability. Various change initiatives have amounted to the ‘re-professionalisation’ of policing, whereby previous models of police professionalism based on craft, discretion and judgement have been abandoned and replaced by new protocols, guidelines and enhanced external scrutiny. This article explores how these changes are interpreted by operational police officers, using qualitative interviews and ethnographic fieldwork to explore officers’ application and understanding of the new requirements. Whereas some literature argues that ‘police culture’ remains largely unchanged, our data illustrate how officers’ daily routines are in a state of enforced flux. While there was some limited suppor...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This chapter builds on previous work by the authors which characterized and analysed the significance of radical precaution in the processes of securing ‘protection’ for citizens against dangerous violent and sexual offenders in countries... more
This chapter builds on previous work by the authors which characterized and analysed the significance of radical precaution in the processes of securing ‘protection’ for citizens against dangerous violent and sexual offenders in countries like the UK and USA. Precautionary logic, in particular, is transforming the meanings of, and relations between, allegations, truth-finding and justice, badged under ‘public protection’. Using this approach, our theme here is to contextualize the underpinnings of this broader cultural imperative through analysis of particular legal and policy developments, including development of ‘counter-law’ and surveillant assemblages against perceived dangers of sexual crime. We also illustrate how ‘risk’ itself is reconstituted in the politics of science and (un)certainty, with practical impacts on decision-making by professionals and apparent attempts at responsibilisation of the wider public. The chapter thus presents an analysis on how the politics of risk and danger play out in identification, detection and pre-emption of sexual crime.
Research Interests:
From 1949 to the present, there are several developments in managing the rehabilitation of offenders which can be identified and used to understand rehabilitation and how it operates in modern Taiwan. These are: the formation of an... more
From 1949 to the present, there are several developments in managing the rehabilitation of offenders which can be identified and used to understand rehabilitation and how it operates in modern Taiwan. These are: the formation of an independent juvenile probation and parole service; adult probation and parole service; the long-existing charity groups/shelters for those who have ceased offending, later re-named as ‘Taiwan After-care Association’ (TAA), a semi-governmental NGO; and governmental purchased rehabilitation services since 2000. We argue in this chapter that Taiwan’s modern probation and parole services at the policy level are still firmly led by a formal legalistic mindset despite new structures and working methods. At the practice level, the probation and parole services staff have managed to develop a combination of due-process models on supervision, risk-assessment models on types of offending behavior (i.e., sexual offending and drug abuse), and a social work model in relation to the rest. The chapter concludes by outlining the upcoming challenges and concerns of rehabilitation in Taiwan: namely the increasing tension between their legal role and the protective and counselling role, the relatively new role conflict in relation to services for individuals and their victims and pressures and constraints on the development of truly evidence-based rehabilitation policies.
Criminology in today’s China possesses all the ornamental characteristics necessary for an academic discipline – journals, a professional association, internationally recognized scholars, and university-based research centers. However,... more
Criminology in today’s China possesses all the ornamental characteristics necessary for an academic discipline – journals, a professional association, internationally recognized scholars, and university-based research centers. However, official state recognition has not yet been accomplished. In this chapter, using Cesare Lombroso’s legacy as a heuristic hook, we reflect on the historical development of criminological ideas in China in from the late Qing imperial dynasty through the Republican, Maoist China, and Post-Tiananmen periods. We then focus on the influence of national contingent forces on the shape of criminology in China, and argue that the criminological enterprise in academia has to be seen as operating within structures which have an impact on knowledge production in China (as elsewhere). As part of this context, we touch upon the contemporary importance of networks of international collaboration which themselves are illustrative of the entanglement of criminology’s ‘conversation of the West’ and Chinese domestic imperatives.
The first section of this chapter examines developments in support for victims of crime in three Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, and the People's Republic of China. Contrary to the widely-held belief that Asian jurisdictions shy... more
The first section of this chapter examines developments in support for victims of crime in three Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, and the People's Republic of China. Contrary to the widely-held belief that Asian jurisdictions shy away from a victim rights based approach, there has been considerable progress in support for victims of crime in Asia over the last thirty years. Yet, as this chapter shows, national factors interacting with 'selective appropriation' from the West has produced different and varied trajectories across the three Asian exemplars. In addition, arguably, while international developments can be seen reflected within general policy developments, 'localised' divergence in terms of victim experiences and political uses of the 'crime victim' are also apparent. We conclude the first section with an explication of the importance of such 'cultural and political translation' processes to comparative understanding on victims and crime policy more widely. The second part of our chapter takes Taiwan as a case-study; it explores how local context infuses developments in victim policy with power, politics and meaning. Heuristically, much can be gained in understanding the Taiwanese context by taking the crime victim as the idealized political subject, the model subject, whose circumstances and experiences have come to stand for the general good. Indeed, victim policy is now the kaleidoscopic prism through which the legitimacy and effectiveness of Taiwan’s criminal justice system is understood.
Personal and household insurance can protect the population from risks of large, low probability financial losses in exchange for a manageable cost. Rational models prescribe that insurance purchase decisions should be made by weighing... more
Personal and household insurance can protect the population from risks of large, low probability financial losses in exchange for a manageable cost. Rational models prescribe that insurance purchase decisions should be made by weighing the utility of loss outcomes by the probabilities of their occurrence. In contrast, research from bounded rationality perspectives has revealed how people construct simplified representations of insured events, base probability judgments on heuristics, are susceptible to cost framing effects and use simple decision rules based on judgment thresholds. Furthermore, emotions such as worry, and anticipated peace of mind influence insurance choices.
While insurance brings societal benefits it can also bring significant detriments related to its moral hazards. In recent years, for example, concerns have grown that much insurance held by individuals may be inappropriate for their needs or obtained due to misleading information provided by the seller. Such mis-selling of insurance has many sources, including the complexity of insurance products, the limited understanding of some consumers, the bundling of insurance with other products, pecuniary incentives, malevolent behaviour or the culture of the entire firm. Neo-liberal approaches to consumer protection encourage consumers to accept responsibility for their insurance decisions and to inform and educate themselves accordingly. Others argue that this is insufficient and in addition, consumer protection and conduct of business regulation should be strengthened.
Insurance fraud, which exists on a continuum, is also detrimental to society. Although most estimates show it is widespread, its actual prevalence is unclear, in part because much insurance fraud goes undetected. Recent developments in combating fraud include high-level co-ordination of detection activity, the use of predictive analytics, revised guidelines on sentencing and the use of moral cues to discourage false claims. More generally, studies across varied cultural contexts illustrate how moral hazards embedded in the social organisation of insurance lead to various kinds of immoral risky behaviour by those insured, insurance companies, and their employees. This recognition that moral risks are not limited to the insured person is key to understanding the insurance fraud-moral hazard overlap and how it plays out in the wider moral economy of insurance.
While insurance brings societal benefits it can also bring significant detriments related to its moral hazards. In recent years, for example, concerns have grown that much insurance held by individuals may be inappropriate for their needs or obtained due to misleading information provided by the seller. Such mis-selling of insurance has many sources, including the complexity of insurance products, the limited understanding of some consumers, the bundling of insurance with other products, pecuniary incentives, malevolent behaviour or the culture of the entire firm. Neo-liberal approaches to consumer protection encourage consumers to accept responsibility for their insurance decisions and to inform and educate themselves accordingly. Others argue that this is insufficient and in addition, consumer protection and conduct of business regulation should be strengthened.
Insurance fraud, which exists on a continuum, is also detrimental to society. Although most estimates show it is widespread, its actual prevalence is unclear, in part because much insurance fraud goes undetected. Recent developments in combating fraud include high-level co-ordination of detection activity, the use of predictive analytics, revised guidelines on sentencing and the use of moral cues to discourage false claims. More generally, studies across varied cultural contexts illustrate how moral hazards embedded in the social organisation of insurance lead to various kinds of immoral risky behaviour by those insured, insurance companies, and their employees. This recognition that moral risks are not limited to the insured person is key to understanding the insurance fraud-moral hazard overlap and how it plays out in the wider moral economy of insurance.
This chapter builds on previous work by the authors which characterized and analysed the significance of radical precaution in the processes of securing ‘protection’ for citizens against dangerous violent and sexual offenders in countries... more
This chapter builds on previous work by the authors which characterized and analysed the significance of radical precaution in the processes of securing ‘protection’ for citizens against dangerous violent and sexual offenders in countries like the UK and USA. Precautionary logic, in particular, is transforming the meanings of, and relations between, allegations, truth-finding and justice, badged under ‘public protection’. Using this approach, our theme here is to contextualize the underpinnings of this broader cultural imperative through analysis of particular legal and policy developments, including development of ‘counter-law’ and surveillant assemblages against perceived dangers of sexual crime. We also illustrate how ‘risk’ itself is reconstituted in the politics of science and (un)certainty, with practical impacts on decision-making by professionals and apparent attempts at responsibilisation of the wider public. The chapter thus presents an analysis on how the politics of risk and danger play out in identification, detection and pre-emption of sexual crime.
Culture, whether invoked as a dependent or independent variable, has become increasingly significant with respect to the study of white-collar criminality. Indeed, it can be argued that it has moved from the periphery to the center of... more
Culture, whether invoked as a dependent or independent variable, has become increasingly significant with respect to the study of white-collar criminality. Indeed, it can be argued that it has moved from the periphery to the center of criminological concern and research. This essay considers the conceptual underpinnings of geographical cultural variation, together with its uses and implications within particular forms of cross-national research on white-collar crime, particularly corruption (including bribery and intellectual property fraud). To illustrate the explicatory value of culture, the essay examines the Chinese practice of networking of personal relationships, known as “guanxi.”
China’s well-documented rapid socio-economic changes, including largely unmanaged rural to urban migration, forms an important pressure on development of an adequate juvenile justice system. This chapter identifies and describes key... more
China’s well-documented rapid socio-economic changes, including largely unmanaged rural to urban migration, forms an important pressure on development of an adequate juvenile justice system. This chapter identifies and describes key normative principles which are said to underpin contemporary juvenile justice in China. The development of the modern legal framework is also elucidated. In later sections we identify and analyse the regulatory and organizational limits to the implementation of such principles in everyday practice. We argue that the principles stand as part of professional discourse, but remain a largely discursive phenomenon – impinging to a limited extent on the reality of juvenile justice processing in contemporary China.
http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935383.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935383-e-72
http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935383.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199935383-e-72
The key elements of the overall approach to prevention and intervention on crime in contemporary China are outlined and analysed. The approach is best understood as state initiated comprehensive management or governance of social order.... more
The key elements of the overall approach to prevention and intervention on crime in contemporary China are outlined and analysed. The approach is best understood as state initiated comprehensive management or governance of social order. Developed in the new era of economic liberalisation and reform , the policy of comprehensive governance was first promulgated in 1981 as a key organisational tool for crime control but only legislated for in 1991. The approach emphasises prevention, education and punishment of offenders through coordination and cooperation between political, legal, educational, cultural, economic and social bodies, yet sits in an integrated manner alongside ‘strike hard’ campaigns by police against more serious and organised crime. While the development, nature and dynamic interplay between these elements can only be fully explicated through detailed socio-historical analysis, this chapter describes and contextualises the relevant organisational and thematic issues contained within the comprehensive approach to the prevention and intervention on crime, including the complex relationship between public and private agencies in prevention and intervention on crime in China.
Beginning with Liu Lianshing’s landmark translation ‘Criminology of Lombroso’ published in Shanghai in 1929, this chapter addresses how and in what ways Lombroso’s work has been variously reflected in the development of criminological and... more
Beginning with Liu Lianshing’s landmark translation ‘Criminology of Lombroso’ published in Shanghai in 1929, this chapter addresses how and in what ways Lombroso’s work has been variously reflected in the development of criminological and penological thinking in China in both the Republican , Mao and Post-Mao eras. His place in the ‘controlled renewal’ and ‘guided discussion’ of contemporary criminology in China is also examined.
The first section of this chapter examines developments in support for victims of crime in three Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, and the People's Republic of China. Contrary to the widely-held belief that Asian jurisdictions shy away... more
The first section of this chapter examines developments in support for victims of crime in three Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, and the People's Republic of China. Contrary to the widely-held belief that Asian jurisdictions shy away from a victim rights based approach, there has been considerable progress in support for victims of crime in Asia over the last thirty years. Yet, as this chapter shows, national factors interacting with selective appropriation from the West has produced different and varied trajectories across the three Asian exemplars. In addition, arguably, while international developments can be seen reflected within general policy developments, localised divergence in terms of victim experiences and political uses of crime victims are also apparent. We conclude the first section with an explication of the importance of such cultural and political translation processes to a comparative understanding on victims and crime policy more widely. The second part of our chapter takes Taiwan as a case-study; it explores how local context infuses developments in victim policy with power, politics and meaning. Heuristically, much can be gained in understanding the Taiwanese context by taking the crime victim as the idealized political subject, the model subject, whose circumstances and experiences have come to stand for the general good. Indeed, victim policy is now the kaleidoscopic prism through which the legitimacy and effectiveness of Taiwan’s criminal justice system is understood.
Research Interests:
Examines the subjective experiences of 188 juveniles who took part in a police -initiated anti-juvenile crime project "Operation Breakthrough"; with a particular focus on the juveniles'perceptions of police officers encountered in the... more
Examines the subjective experiences of 188 juveniles who took part in a police -initiated anti-juvenile crime project "Operation Breakthrough"; with a particular focus on the juveniles'perceptions of police officers encountered in the project. Results analysed and thematically coded. Concludes with suggestions on how more positive images of police officers can be developed.
A groundbreaking collection of scholarship on China and the greater China region.
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415500401/
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415500401/
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper examines the nature of female offending patterns in relationship to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 27 European countries for the year 2006. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative... more
This paper examines the nature of female offending patterns in relationship to societal gender equality using cross-national analysis of 27 European countries for the year 2006. Importantly, our analysis uses a conceptually innovative indicator (the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index) to determine relative levels of gender equality. Results show that countries with a narrower gender gap in the Global Gender Gap indexes of political empowerment were likely to have a higher female prosecution rate, and that political empowerment was also significantly associated with female conviction rates as well as rates of property offending. The pattern of results generally supports the liberation thesis. Finally, limitations and suggestions for future study are addressed.