Description:
This book examines responses to youth crime in Hong Kong, offering a point of comparison and potential contrast with the majority of examinations of youth crime that focus on western nations such as the US and UK. Examining how officials have responded to youth crime over time, it highlights concerns not only about young people's behavior but the need for officials to establish state authority, as well to maintain social cohesion. Hong Kong's history reveals an alternative to the 'usual story' about youth crime found in many western regions and provides an opportunity to begin to develop a comparative criminology.
Review Quotes:
"Adorjan and Chui offer a stunning perspective on Hong Kong's political responses to youth over time, and a compelling case study of the pressures that are brought to bear on a society's core understanding of young people. Not to be missed, this fascinating work is an important contribution to comparative criminology and youth justice."
Don Cipriani, Ph.D., author of Children's Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility: A Global Perspective.
"Adorjan and Chui have not only provided us with an accessible scholarly analysis of youth crime and juvenile/youth justice in Hong Kong. They have also contributed to an evolving body of work from South-east Asia that opens new doors and significantly advances our understanding of comparative criminology."
Professor Barry Goldson, University of Liverpool, UK.
"In Responding to Youth Crime in Hong Kong, Adorjan and Chui, through a careful examination of the key issues and debates on juvenile delinquency in different historical contexts, have given us an original and insightful analysis of institutional responses to youth delinquency and crime in Hong Kong. Their perceptive discussion of the historical structuration of state-society relations and the configuration of a penal elitist mode of governance points to a new set of research questions for future studies. This is a Hong Kong case study but the authors are able to relate their discussion to the broader concerns of comparative criminology, youth studies, social work, and sociological studies of deviance."
Professor Tai-lok Lui, University of Hong Kong.