NCJ Number
239427
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 52 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2012 Pages: 17-31
Date Published
January 2012
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article examines how histories of European crime could contribute to understandings of social change in present-day Asia.
Abstract
How might historical analysis enrich global criminology? More specifically, could histories of European crime contribute to understandings of social change in present-day Asia? How can evidence bases generated through distinct research practicesthose used by historians, criminologists and criminal justice consultantsbe combined? This article explores these challenges through an analysis of contemporary Vietnamese concerns about youth crime and a critique of local and international policymakers' efforts to address these. It argues that historically informed analysis can enrich understanding in four key ways. The first is that this kind of analysis suggests how French colonialism and its legacies have shaped Vietnamese criminal justice practice through (in)direct policy transfer. The second is that it can help to defuse current moral panics by locating Vietnam's rising youth crime within a familiar historical pattern. The third is that it can broaden the narrow evidence base available to those searching for youth justice interventions that 'work'. Finally, a historical view can expand existing spaces for difficult but critical dialogues around human rights in a reforming authoritarian state with its own traumatic past. (Published Abstract)