A Comparison of Chinese and US College Students’ Crime and Crime Control Views

While there is a growing trend to look at criminal justice issues from an international perspective, there has been little literature examining differences in views of crime, criminals, punishment, and treatment between the citizens of the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America. Using data from 524 students at a large university in China and 484 students from a large public university in the USA this study found that, while US respondents were more likely to agree that crime was high in their country, Chinese respondents were more likely to feel that crime was the most serious social problem facing their society. Chinese respondents were more supportive of the death penalty for serious crimes but also were more supportive of rehabilitation of offenders in general. In addition, the study found similarities between students from the two countries in their views. The reasons behind the differences and similarities were explored.

Reasons for South Korean attitudes towards the death penalty: exploring the nexus between strong public support and history of misapplication

As of this writing, South Korea (officially, the Republic of Korea) is an abolitionist-in-practice nation; capital punishment is legal, but no death sentences have been carried out since a moratorium was enacted in 1997. Public support for the death penalty has decreased over time; however, the factors that determine support for or opposition to the death penalty of the South Korean general public are largely unknown. Using survey data from a nationwide sample of 416 respondents, this study examined the potential predictors for public attitudes towards capital punishment support. A majority of survey respondents (83%) supported the death penalty, a higher percentage than recent surveys of the South Korean general public. The deterrence and retribution perspectives were positively related to death penalty support, while crime severity, neighbourhood safety, the brutalisation effect, and innocence were negatively related. This study provides the first multivariate analysis of factors associated with South Korean attitudes towards the death penalty.     

Death penalty views in China, Japan and the U.S.: An empirical comparison

Many nations impose the death penalty, yet most of the literature on capital punishment has focused on Western nations, particularly the U.S. China and Japan are two retentionist nations. Based on the data collected in 2005, this study examined the level of death penalty support and views on capital punishment among college students from China, Japan, and the U.S. It was found that Chinese respondents reported the highest level of death penalty support, followed by Japanese and U.S. students. Respondents from China and Japan were more likely to believe in the deterrence value of capital punishment than their U.S. counterparts. Views on retribution differed among the respondents. U.S. students were most likely to feel that innocent people are sentenced to death. In multivariate analyses, deterrence was the strongest correlate of death penalty views among Chinese and Japanese respondents, followed closely by retribution. For both Chinese and Japanese students, the barbarity of government taking the life of a person was the strongest predictor for opposing the death penalty. For U.S. respondents, retribution was the strongest reason for supporting capital punishment and the barbarity of executions was the strongest reason for opposing the death penalty.     

The Impact of the Work Environment on Prison Staff: The Issue of Consideration, Structure, Job Variety, and Training

Correctional staff are instrumental in ensuring the success of any correctional institution; therefore, investigating how the work environment impacts correctional workers is essential. To determine the effects of supervisory consideration, supervisory structure, job variety, and perceptions of training on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, data from a survey of staff at a Midwestern private correctional facility were examined. The Ordinary Least Squares regression results indicate that each of the work environment factors had a significant impact on one or more of the three outcomes. Specifically, supervisory consideration and perceptions of training decreased job stress. Supervisory consideration, job variety, and perceptions of training had positive effects on job satisfaction. Finally, supervisory consideration, supervisory structure, job variety, and perceptions of training had positive relationships with organizational commitment.     

浅析公安院校学生法律信仰的几个问题

公安院校的性质和任务要求培养的人才应具备法律信仰的精神品质。法律信仰应当具有法律至上、现代法治权力、正确的权利义务、法律程序化等理念。法律信仰的培植要根据学生心理形成机制从法律认知、法律情感、法律意志、法律理想等几方面入手。     

The Impact of Officer and Agency Characteristics on the Likelihood of Arrest in Domestic Violence Situations among Rural Law Enforcement Officers

Domestic violence cuts across all demographic groups. The factors related to why police officers arrest in some domestic violence situations but not others have been often studied. Little research, however, has been conducted on the arrest views of rural police officers. One hundred seventy line officers in six rural Midwestern counties were surveyed to determine the impact of officer personal characteristics and agency type on arrest decisions in various hypothetical domestic violence scenarios. First, the same situational factors appeared to be important in shaping the arrest decision in domestic violence calls of rural officers as have previously been found with urban officers. Second, the characteristics of officers and the type of agency had some impact on the likelihood of arrest, particularly if there was evidence of a physical assault. Third, the presence of evidence of a physical assault helped shape the arrest decisions of rural officers. Fourth, situational factors were more important than officer characteristics and the type of agency. Nancy Hogan and Shannon Barton contributed equally to the paper. The authors thank Janet Lambert for editing and proofreading the paper. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.     

Applications of GIS in Public Security Agencies in China

The application of GIS in the public security industry is generally called “Police Geographic Information System (PGIS)” in Mainland China. Although China’s PGIS play important roles in protecting public safety and smart policing, no publications on this subject are found in English. This paper provides an overview of the four main development stages of PGIS in public security agencies in mainland China: the early exploration stage; the multi-department PGIS system development stage; the centralization stage; and the spread and improvement stage. Successful GIS applications and practices in local police departments are also introduced in this paper. At the end of this paper, three problems and challenges faced in the development of PGIS are introduced, involving the current PGIS application depth; the support of crime mapping and crime analysis theoretical research on policing practices; and the introduction and localization of mature foreign crime analysis and prediction technology. Additionally, we point out that the implementation of smart policing strategies under the context of big data has created favorable conditions for subsequent crime analysis, research, and application, encouraging police departments to more frequently take initiative by cooperating with research institutions in crime analysis and prediction technology research. These new opportunities will inevitably promote the rapid development of PGIS and the geography of crime in China.

     

Formal and informal control views in China,Japan, and the U.S.

Purpose

This study compared and contrasted the views of formal and informal crime control among college students from China, Japan, and the U.S., and examined the correlates behind the views.

Methods

Using the same questionnaire, this study collected data from 1,275 completed surveys in the three nations.

Results

The study revealed that both Chinese and Japanese respondents evaluated formal and informal control and their combination in crime control as more important than American counterparts did. The variable trust in police was a predictor of attitudes toward formal control and the mix of formal and informal control in all the three nations. Demographics in the U.S. were more important factors than in China and Japan in predicting the respondents' ranking of the importance of formal control and informal control and their combination in crime control.

Conclusions

This is the first empirically comparative study of the perceived importance of formal and informal mechanisms in crime prevention and control in China, Japan and the U.S. The study found both similarities and differences in the perceived importance and reasons behind them. More research is needed in the future.     

Social Ties, Collective Efficacy and Perceived Neighborhood Property Crime in Guangzhou, China

This study aims to (1) explore perceptions of property crime at the neighborhood level and their correlates based on a random sample from Guangzhou, China and (2) assess the applicability of collective efficacy theory in contemporary urban China. Since the data used in this study are multilevel and the dependent variable is dichotomous, a generalized hierarchical linear model was used for analysis of the data. This study reveals that both community structural variables (residential stability and poverty) and community process variables (social ties, collective efficacy and semi-formal control) were found to affect individuals’ perceptions of neighborhood property crime in Guangzhou. However, communities in Guangzhou are different from those in big cities in the US. This is evidenced by several findings in this study: (1) poorer communities in Guangzhou were not associated with lower levels of formal and informal control; (2) communities with higher levels of residential mobility were neither linked to higher levels of poverty nor disorganization; and (3) the correlation between residential stability and perceived neighborhood property crime was not mediated by community processes.