NCJ Number: 219917
Title: Risks of Criminal Victimization in Contemporary Urban China: An Application of Lifestyle/Routine Activities Theory
Journal: Juster Quarterly Volume:24 Issue:3 Dated:September 2007 Pages:496-522
Author(s): Steven F. Messner; Zhou Lu; Lening Zhang; Jianhong Liu
Date Published: September 2007
Page Count: 27
Publisher: http://www.routledge.com/
Type: Research (Theoretical)
Format: Article
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Annotation: This study examined the influence of lifestyle/routine activities on victimization in contemporary urban China.
Abstract: The results of the study replicate some findings that have been reported for the United States and other Western nations but reveal divergent patterns as well. The results suggest that prominent aspects of a Chinese consumer society had yet to emerge to a significant degree at the time of the 2004 survey. However, indicators of the lifestyles of dining out and traveling outside the city yielded effects on victimization risk in the theoretically expected direction. Eating out and traveling outside the city of Tianjin, China for work increased the risk of personal theft, and travel for both work and leisure increased the risk of being swindled. So, while the levels of these activities may be relatively low in Tianjin, the evidence suggests that they are nevertheless “risk” factors, consistent with observations and theoretical accounts in the West. The research suggests that, whatever the role of rising criminal motivations and decreasing social control, changes in routine activities and increased opportunities for crime are likely to have played a role as well in the growth in crime, and these changes are likely to play an even more important role in the future. Over the course of the past two decades, China has experienced profound social changes, yet very little is known about the social patterning of criminal victimization in China. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using a general survey methodology in the Chinese context to study victimization and provide descriptive data. Using data from a survey recently conducted in the city of Tianjin, it examined the relationships between theoretically derived indicators of the respondents’ lifestyles/routine activities and demographic characteristics, and between these lifestyles/routine activities and the likelihood of property and violent victimization. Tables, references, and appendixes A-B
Main Term(s): Victimization
Index Term(s): China; Crime in foreign countries; Foreign countries; Socioeconomic development; Urban area studies; Urban criminality; US/foreign comparisons; Victimization risk; Victimization surveys; Victimology
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