The Legal Culture and Legal System in Post-Franco Spain

In analyzing the process of creating criminal law, Howard Becker pointed out elements such as moral entrepreneurs, availability to the mass media, and political maneuvering. In this article the author analyses how these elements are seen in the emergence of Anti-Prostitution Law in Japan. According to historical documents Christian groups worked as moral crusaders in the purification movement before World War II. But after the war secular groups, especially female groups, became the main entrepreneurs for the enactment of Anti-Prostitution Law.

In those countries where believers in a monotheistic religion like Christianity are the majority of the population, moral entrepreneurs may play an important role in creating criminal law. On the other hand, Japan does not have many such believers. Most Japanese, influenced by Shinto, are tolerant of different religions. Therefore, in the emergence of criminal law, moral crusaders who are interested in forcing their own morals on others are rarely seen. The author cannot emphasize the role of moral entrepreneurs as Howard Becker did. In Japan most drafts of law are made by bureaucrats in the national government in accord with opinions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Then laws are submitted to the Diet by the Cabinet. As a result, research on the roles of bureaucrats, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and the Cabinet is important in the sociology of criminal law in Japan.     

From Dictatorship to Democracy: Crime and Policing in Contemporary Spain

Francisco Franco's death in 1975 ended nearly forty years of fascist dictatorship in Spain. In the next decade the country underwent substantial and dramatic change: The political structure was democratized under King Juan Carlos. Rapid industrialization and commercial development, especially on the northeastern areas, altered the economic nature of Spain. Internal migration, particularly from the more impoverished South to Madrid and Barcelona, altered social arrangements as well.

Crime and disorder also increased rapidly. All crime rates and imprisonment rates grew. Drug use and abuse became a major problem. Basque pressure for a separate state often resulted in a terrorist war in which the main casualties were policemen.

Attempts at reforming the police occurred almost immediately after Franco's death. The old Armed Police—a repressive agency that policed cities over 20,000 populations-was substantially demilitarized and became the National Police. Although transformations are incomplete, the National Police can be seen as a symbol of the new era. The more rural police, the Civil Guard, has been less responsive to change and may be seen as a symbol of the old dictatorship.     

Equal in Poverty,Unequal in Wealth: Ethnic Stratification in Chile,the Mapuche Case

How does ethnic status affect social stratification in Chile? Despite a rich theoretical debate in the literature on social stratification, there is a shortage of empirical approaches to this phenomenon in Latin America. This research note seeks to bridge the analytical gap by describing the social exclusion of indigenous people in Chile. From a case study in La Araucanía region and using statistical techniques to give equal weightings to indigenous and non‐indigenous groups (specifically Mapuches and non‐Mapuches), we attempt to show that given equal socio‐demographic conditions, the incomes of both groups are similar in the low and middle strata, and differentiated in the higher strata.