Japan As a Low-Crime Nation

Criminologists have despaired that modernization and crime are inseparable, but Japan has long been seen as an exception to the rule. In this book, the author finds that while it remains the case that crime reduction may come at some cost to individual autonomy, the "West" can learn from Japan to reduce the social harm of too much freedom. Instead of endless crime prevention programs through "social engineering," policy makers could pay more attention to sociological insights concerning responsibility, obligations and collective identities.

Dag Leonardsen is Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Health and Social Studies, Lillehammer University College, Norway. He is the author of numerous articles in Norwegian and has contributed to the New Zealand and Australian Journal of Criminology. His main areas of research are within welfare sociology, political analysis and social impact assessment.