NCJ Number: 91312
Title: Criminology in Developing Nations - Africa and Asian Examples (From International Handbook of Contemporary Developments in Criminology, Volume 1, P 83-98, 1983, Elmer H Johnson, ed. - See NCJ-91307)
Author(s): W Clifford
Date Published: 1983
Page Count: 16
Sponsoring Agency: Greenwood Publishing Group
Sale Source: Greenwood Publishing Group
Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Annotation: Asian and African developing countries are more concerned with survival and economic improvement than with crime, although their crime tends to increase with improvement in economic and social conditions.
Abstract: Nevertheless, the developing countries have considerably less crime than the developed ones, even when allowance is made for differences in recording and for the incomparability of much of the crime in different countries. The dearth of reliable data and the variety of cultural meanings attached to the concept of crime has inhibited the development of criminology in the developing countries. However, interest in learning about crime in developing countries has sharply increased in recent years. In Africa, the diversity of culture and political situations makes it impossible to generalize about crime. Crime in this continent as well as elsewhere is a composite reflection of history and tradition, modernization and social disruption, foreign influence, government ineptitude, exploitation, and opportunism. The continent provides examples of all the world's systems of criminal justice. Crime is as related to political events as to economic and social conditions. In contrast, Asia's longstanding cultural heritage has resulted in the survival of family loyalties and traditional social controls, although new forces are at work. The Asian approach to social problems also has a passivity which is not so evident in Africa. Asia appears to have an inner resilience resulting from the centuries of change it has experienced. Notes and an annotated bibliography of 21 references are included.
Index Term(s): Africa; Asia; Comparative criminology; Crime in foreign countries; Cross-cultural comparisons; Cultural influences; Economic analysis of crime; Foreign criminal justice systems; Political influences
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