Japan Essay - Comparative Criminology PDF

Preview

Summary

Essay on Japan's Policing ...

Description

“Japan’s homicide rates are the lowest in the world and are lower than at any time since World War II” (Johnson, 2007 p.371). At the end of World War II, nearly all types of crime rose in Japan, (Leonardsen, n.d.) but have since declined and have continued to do so. There was an emphatic drop in 2016. 2016 saw the lowest reported crimes since World War II. (The Japan Times, 2018) This essay will discuss three different explanations for Japan’s low crime rate; these being aspects of Japan’s culture, social order and Japan’s policing. All of this while incorporating and exploring the recent and updated statistics on Japan’s crime rate, as well as discussing crime data as a whole and the problems that often occur within crime data and more importantly, the difficulties that can arise when comparing data from country to country. Crime data on its own has its own problems the more obvious being the Dark Figure of crime being the biggest. The dark figure of crime being the term given to the crime that goes unrecorded due to the crime simply not being reported via the victims of the crime. The dark figure of crime statistics arguably always ensures that crime statistics can never be as accurate as we would like them to be. (Alvazzi del Frate, n.d.) A larger problem with comparing different types of global crime data comes down to the differences in how individual surveys were completed. They’re often completed with different and conflicting “sampling (size and method), structure and content of the questionnaire may represent major obstacles to comparability of the results.” (Alvazzi del Frate, n.d. p.9) This means it can be unhelpful to compare these types of data as they don’t match methods or sample sizes, therefore often these surveys simply are not comparable against each other and it can make it seem, for example, that crime in certain countries is at a disproportionate level to others. Another problem with crime data comes with comparing it from country to country. One of the main problems with country to country comparisons is the trouble with legal definitions. For example, when writing a report, Shaw, van Dijk and Rhomberg discussed this matter in terms of a police officer’s discretion in determining whether or not an assault was a serious one or simply common assault. This difference, along with other legal jurisdictions can make global comparisons with crime data difficult as a crime in one county could very well be defined or listed as another crime in another country, making the comparisons nearly impossible. Shaw, van Dijk and Rhomberg also state, “In some societies, social norms may make it almost impossible for women to report cases of rape or sexual abuse, while in others, women are encouraged to come forward.” (Shaw, van Dijk and Rhomberg, n.d p.3) noting that certain cultures customs would vary and could easily impact on what crimes they report, if they report them at all or indeed, what is seen as crimes in certain countries. This too, increases the difficulty in global crime comparison. Japan is currently the eleventh biggest country in the world by population. As of the 17th February 2018, the population stood at 127,293,062 with its largest city, Tokyo, holding around 8.3 million. Japan’s total population has decreased since 2010, where the population stood at 128.5 million. (Worldpopulationreview.com, 2018) It is an island located in East Asia and sits

just off the coast of South Korea. Japan is a nation which has a lower fertility rate and a higher life expectancy than countries such as the UK, therefore they have a larger percentage of its population being aged 65 and over. (Demographics of Japan, n.d.) Currently, In 2017, it was recorded that Japan had 27% of its population aged 65 or over, this is compared to only 6.4% fifty years ago in 1967. (Data.worldbank.org, 2018) There are two major religions in Japan they are, Shintō and Buddhism and most Japanese people have, “a syncretic fashion” (Demographics of Japan, n.d. p.14) relationship, incorporating teachings and other elements from both religions though there are small populations of both Muslim and Christian within Japan also. Japan’s government, similar to the United Kingdom, is a constitutional monarchy with their reigning sovereign being placed these days as more of a ceremonial state head rather than a person of real political power. (Sawe, 2018) This means that like the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister is the head of the government with the majority of the states political power. Their government is split into three branches. The first is the executive, being the Prime Minister and their ministers of state, this is where the bills are brought forth and laws are signed. The second branch, the legislative branch, consisting of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors, this branch is where such things as drafting laws and choosing the Prime Minister are done. The final branch is the judicial branch where the courts are held. They are independent from the other branches and held in higher authority and esteem out of the three. The crime rate in Japan compared to the United Kingdom among many other countries is indeed incredibly low. In 2014, Japan’s homicide rate per 100,000 people was 0.3, compared to 0.9 per 100,000 people in the UK and 4.4 in the USA. In 2008, there were a total of 11 deaths by firearms in Japan, compared with 38 in the UK and 11,030 in the USA. (Knoema, 2018) Currently however, in the later half of 2017, the crime rate in Japan has continued to decline. Thanks to a fall in mainly thefts, an article shows that the amount of recorded crimes in Japan fell to 915,111 for all of 2017. This is the lowest amount of reported crimes in Japan since the end of World War II where the statistic stood at 996,120. These are the only two times on record where the number of reported crimes were below one million. (The Japan Times, 2018) This isn’t to say however that all types of crime in Japan are falling, a number of crimes such as kidnapping, cybercrime and human trafficking have all increased. The National Police Agency reported in 2017 that 2017 saw a 4.9% increase, nearly 70,000 rise in reports of cybercrime from the previous year. (Asian Review, 2017) Kidnapping and human trafficking crimes had an increase of around 1.3% since 2013. However, the more ‘serious’ crimes such as murder and robbery have been reported to decline, with only 10,889 cases in 2017, a decrease of 657 in 2016. Establishing that there is a low crime rate in Japan is rather easily done. What is not easy however, is explaining the reasons in which the crime rate is so low compared to other countries. The first possible way in which to try and explain the rare phenomenon is culture based. The culture within Japan has often been described as “a ‘shame society.’” (Sack, n.d. p.1) Sack writes

that in Japan there is a culture of what he describes as “no self” (Sack, n.d. p.9) He describes this as the Japanese people’s willingness to live in the service of others rather than for themselves. He goes on to explain how this sense of no self can still be seen in Japan today, “In Japan, self-orientation or individualism connotes selfishness and non-social behavior.” (Sack, n.d. p.9) Meaning that the Japanese see themselves in more of a collective group rather than as individuals, making them feel far more guilty than those from other countries when doing things for themselves or being individualistic. This self-demeaning attitude is said to make the Japanese people less likely to commit crimes as crimes are often seen as a individualistic type of behaviour, one that favours or benefits the individual rather than the collective group in which the Japanese so often see themselves as being within. In the earliest days of Japanese culture and the legends of the samurai. According to Psychology Today, “A samurai accepted suicide so readily was that their families instilled in them a strong sense of duty.” They did this if they felt as if they had dishonoured themselves or their family. This type of mindset of so carefully preserving their families reputation and giving so far as committing suicide if having been said to ‘ruin’ this reputation still lives within the Japanese culture today, even if they are no longer living strictly within that culture anymore. The World Health Organisation attests that suicide rates among those in Asian countries is the highest in the world, with over 30,000 Japanese people commiting suicide per year. (Psychology Today, 2018) “Taking your life is seen as an honorable way of atoning for public disgrace and expression of one’s deep sense of shame.” (Psychology Today, 2018) This sense of honour and shame and the serious repercussions many Japanese people feel is worthy when dishonouring themselves or their family could be a deterrent to committing crime, writes Lyn Allgood, when commenting on a lecture given by Professor Charles Hackett. Allgood states that threatening a member of a gang with time away from society while imprisoned is rather pointless as the guilt and shame they are experiencing over ‘failing’ the gang has a far greater impact on the gang member’s life than the time in prison. (Allgood, 1997) This means then that guilt, shame and a feeling of having dishonored a close group can do more harm and can act as a deterrent from doing acts that might be seen to ‘dishonour’ or go against the beliefs of the said group. Professor Charles Hackett, in this lecture, goes on to state, “ We need to move toward a shame-honor culture.” (Allgood, 1997), highlighting the possible benefit of incorporating this aspect of Japanese culture, into a Western country. The social organisation and legal culture of Japan and itself could also provide an explanation for why Japan’s crime rate is said to be lower than on average. Within this organisation we see the two circles of Japan culture, the uchi and the yoso. The Uchi simply refers to one’s inner circle or the home. It is, as Komiya states that within the uchi world, “Human relations are so intimate that one can presume that there is no opposition between people and that they can therefore count on one another.” (Komiya, 1999) Meaning, that the uchi is a close knit group. These groups, despite direct translation meaning home can and often does, refer to simply a close group and not

just family groups but rather workplaces, schools etc also. These groups often adapt and present a number of social norms, rights and wrongs and all types of behaviours that become what is expected from this particular group. Duty is known as the giri within the uchi groups, and those who betray or break the giri has one being labeled as an rebel of sorts and quickly becoming an outcast of the group. (Banks and Baker, 2015) This threat of being expelled from the group is arguably one of the main things keeping a member of a close group committing a crime if the social norms of their group dictate this group is a non crime committing group and a member breaks the giri, committing a crime, and therefore being expelled swiftly from the group. However, this is not always the case, the closeness of the uchi group can also be rather secretive which also in turn, prevents crime being reported, or indeed recorded in the first place which also can account for the low crime rate in Japan also. Opposed to the uchi is the yoso. The yoso comprises everyone who is not within the uchi world. So, in essence, strangers. For example, it is stated that Japanese people, “Behave with indifference and coldness towards outsiders because of the absence of giri consciousness.” (Komiya, 1999 p.374) This, of course, being due to the lack of giri, or duty, people have to strangers. So, in essence, it is the giri that seems to be holding people within Japan from overly committing crime. The Japanese hold their own rights to a higher degree over the rights of others who belong to them in the yoso world rather than the uchi world. It is easy to see here that the two worlds of uchi and yoso could leave an outsider of Japan with the opinion that it would be easy, and more common, for crime to be committed with the apparent disregard and almost uncaring nature of their yoso world. However, this simply does not seem to be the case for Japan. Examples such as the ones Komiya gives about the polite Japanese people in their uchi world turning sour and scrambling around and over people to get onto the train is not on the same level as a person wanting, being more likely, or indeed as committing crimes. Indeed, Komiya attests this to being due to the fact that there is a separation between the uchi and the yoso world, and that violent behaviour is contained within the yoso world and therefore, Japan’s low crime rate cannot be due to the yoso world of Japan because the yoso world has, “No social life.” (Komiya, 1999 p.378) This meaning the yoso world is the lesser of the two worlds of Japan’s social organisations, meaning if the social organisation of Japan is to blame for Japan’s low crime rate then it would have to be found within the urchi world, not the yoso. We must then look at the urchi world for potential reasons for Japan’s low crime rate. The urchi world is one of a group of people brought together often being families, workplaces etc. It is rather easy to see why a close knit group, working together with ideas of respect and duty could be the reasoning behind a low crime rate in a given country. The urchi has rules, behaviours and the like to ensure everyone involved adheres to a certain way, whether it be within the household, the workplace or the like. This means that everyone is expected to act a certain way with the failure to do so having you expelled. Therefore, due to the shame culture within Japanese society

as discussed earlier, this same shame culture exists and permeates throughout the urchi world, ensuring that criminal activity is limited, or in some urchi organisations simply non-existent. This can be seen to easily affect Japan’s crime rate when taking into consideration the fact that Japanese people tend to spend a large amount of time within these groups to the point that these beliefs, ideal behaviour and other positive traits become second nature. (Komiya, 1999) The culture of Japan simply is one of large amount of social organisational self control, and that, according to Komiya means that Japanese people are highly more likely to, “Conform to criminal laws.” (Komiya, 1999 p.385) The urchi certainly can be seen to help Japan’s low crime rates, however, it also can also possibly be an the cause to a darker explanation to why they are so low and that comes with the attitudes the police of Japan have themselves and what crimes they are willing to report and record. The third and final key part in explaining Japan’s low crime rate is within how their policing itself works. One aspect of Japan’s policing has long been given as an explanation to how their policing might keep such a low crime rate, this is the police boxes, known as the Koban. The Koban simply put is a small room that is placed on the streets of Japan. (Aldous and Leishman, 2001) Inside is usually an officer or two keeping watch, keeping a lookout for any suspicious activity, helping out by giving people directions and being the first responders to many crimes. (Japanese Community Police and Police Box System, n.d.) One of the more recent problems with the Koban, however, is the fact that many are being under provided for. It was found that over 2400 boxes throughout Japan were left with two or less officers which is particularly difficult with the increase in calls for help back when a study was done on them in 2004 and the fact that there must always be one officer left in the Koban at all times encase someone needs help, this is difficult to achieve with fewer officers within the Koban on a given shift. (Japanese Community Police and Police Box System, n.d.) There is a further problem with the fact that from 1994 to 2004 over 800 Kobans have been shut down. It can be seen then that perhaps the Kobans are not as effective as many seem to give them credit as being. They are often unmanned with vacant Kobans quickly being taken down completely. The answer may lie within the police’s attitudes to the crime taking place within Japan itself. In Japan, it is reported that their rate of rape is one woman in fifteen whilst in America it is closer to one in five women. (Rich, 2017) This is a rather good example of how the dark figure of crime is directly impacting Japan. Crimes such as rape and domestic violence often go unreported to the police simply as victims of such crimes know that the police are not likely to care about these crimes. Japan’s police have been described as being ‘bored’ but in reality they are refusing to deal with certain crimes. The police will not disrupt a family's ‘personal life’ describing the act of entering a private life to deal with domestic crimes as “inviolable.” (Fahey, 2017) It is also deemed to be “a strong cultural norm against their crossing the threshold of another man’s home to intervene in what many officers consider to be his private family life.” (Fahey, 2017) Showing that the close knit groups Japan holds so dearly is becoming a detriment to their social organisation, stopping police from interfering on domestic violence and rape crimes particularly

when they take place within the ‘private’ places of someone’s home. Indeed, Japan’s definition of rape seems narrow. In the UK, an aspect that defines rape has it ignored in Japan, “If the victim was unconscious, asleep, too drunk to consent or drugged.” (Localsolicitors.com, 2018) In Japan, if alcohol was involved in a rape, by the victim or the accused, the case is not given the time or level of investigation as it deserves. (Rich, 2017) Japan’s definition of rape has only just been adjusted in 2017, the first time since the laws were brought into power in 1907, one-hundred and ten years later. They adjusted the definition on rape to include forced anal and oral sex and recognising that men could be victims of rape crimes. (Osaki, 2017) Meaning, that the dark figure of crime, in essence, rises its head when it comes to how Japan is being policed. A final point on Japan’s policing is how harsh they are. Unlike the UK, in Japan a person can be hold without charge up to 23 days. (Lopez, 2015) while a person can be held for between 36 to 96 hours in the UK, crime depending. (Gov.uk, 2018) Their police culture is also to go for confessions rather than where the evidence may lead, this harsh treatment which is outlawed within the UK could be a further deterrent for the Japanese to commit crime, knowing how badly treated they are likely to be and how high their conviction rate is. (Lopez, 2015) To conclude, it is almost impossible to compare data from Japan to other countries when legal definitions such as the ones on rape are so vastly different between counties for so many years, this often allows crime figures to seem as if one country has far less types of crime than others. There are certain explanations in a social organisational sense to explain why Japan’s crime rate is so low, the uchi world certainly bringing together groups of people which look out for one another and being a deterrent to those in the group to break the giri by committing crime. However, policing in Japan is clearly to blame also, holding a families ‘private’ life above recording or investigating domestic crimes and thereby ensuring that certain crimes such as rape seem almost non existent within Japanese society. It seems that a large cause of Japan’s low crime rate is due to the overwhelming amount of deterrents that exist within Japanese society.

References Aldous, C. and Leishman, F. (2001). Worlds Apart? Policing in Japan and Britain. [online] Available at: https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/09627250108552 899.pdf [Accessed 21 Feb. 2018]. Allgood, L. (1997). Shame may be a powerful deterrent to crime, antisocial acts. [online] Emory.edu. Available at: http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/1997/November/ernovember.17/1 1_17_97Shame.html [Accessed 19 Feb. 2018]. Alvazzi del Frate, A. (n.d.). Comparing crime trends on the basis of survey data: pro...