The changing face of youth gang crime in contemporary China,

• In Event: Global Perspectives on Youth Gang Behaviour, Violence, and Weapon Use

Abstract

Harding considers youth offending and youth justice in contemporary China which has witnessed considerable changes over the past two decades, though it remains broadly similar to that in the West. Recent rapid economic transformation has initiated rapid changes in the nature and presentation of youth offending. Once famous for its low rates of crime and juvenile delinquency, the apparent rapid rise in Chinese juvenile delinquency has left the media ‘wondering what transformed these little “flowers of the motherland” into “carnivorous plants”. He charts changes from 1983 to the contemporary and highly publicized anti-crime crackdowns in Chongqing. Despite challenges of obtaining Chinese data, a picture is now emerging of changing influence of triads and altering relationships between organized crime and street gangs. After reviewing a typology of Asian gangs he considers how street gangs appear to be on the rise in China as a result of large scale immigration from rural China to the rapidly urbanized mega cities.

Author

• Simon Harding, Middlesex university, London UK