安全と消費者主義犯罪学 : 序論 (<特集>非行・犯罪研究と日本社会の"安全性")

概要

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Japan has low crime rate according to crime statistics and a victim survey as well. Japan seems to be a safe country as far as the crime rate is concerned. This does not mean that there is no need of the discussion on safety in criminology. Two reflective questions are raised : (1) Is there any unsafe element in the social structure of Japan's contemporary society? (2) Does the introduction of the concept of safety in criminology make an impact on the nature of criminology? The former question is relevant to the subject of empirical researches. Safety is the world-taken-for-granted for most Japanese people including lawyers and criminologists. Some prudent criminologists hold that this world-taken-for-granted should be changed to the world-inviting-an-exploration. The safety of Japan should be revisited. For an answer of the latter we have to hold a theoretical discussion on the concept of safety and a merit or demerit of the introduction of this concept into criminology. There are slight differences of meaning among prevention of crime, reduction in crime, and safety from crime. The safety is a more value-oriented concept than both the prevention and reduction, though all preventive measures are not accepted in terms of the liberty of the people. The safety from crime is defined as a sum of resources and efforts invested in avoiding personal danger of crime. That danger, however, extends to those occurring in various aspects of our modern life. Note that criminologists who pose political and cultural problems in their discussion should make mention of the danger of economic inequality, oppression, rejection of freedom, and loss of fairness. The use of the safety will stimulate a broad and important discussion on a liberal or conservative way of thinking about social control. The use of the safety concept will also help the criminology shift from "a criminal-centered or the governing-class-centered disciplille" to "the one for support for victims, consumers, and the people." Criminology must be concerned with people's quality of life as well as a breach of criminal laws. The following three articles indicate what three authors presented at a symposium on Safety and Its Price in the 1990 annual meeting of the Japanese Association of Sociological Criminology. In the first paper Mr. Kawabe takes a careful look at the state of the Japanese juvenile delinquency and calls attention to the delinquency problems in the public housing area. The second article by Mr. Kiyonaga deals with foreign laborers and crime in Japan and suggests not to eradicate delinquency and crime but to manage the community to keep the people in safety. Mr. Morita, in the last, evaluates the concept of safety as a promising guideline in criminology and proposes a new model of society based upon people's safety and well-being.
日本犯罪社会学会の論文
1991-00-00

著者

西村春夫
国士舘大学

安全と消費者主義犯罪学 : 序論 (<特集>非行・犯罪研究と日本社会の"安全性")

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