In the 1990s persuasive scientific evidence (almost entirely from the United States) began to emerge that interventions early in life can have long term impacts on crime and other social problems. The field of 'developmental prevention' has begun to emerge, building on research in human development and developmental psychology. Developmental prevention involves intervention early in developmental pathways (not necessarily early in life), by equipping people to face difficulties through enabling the release of (external or internal) resources at crucial transition points in life and at different levels of the social ecology, both through specific programs and the transformation of institutional policies and practices. Prevention programs often involve working with families and children, on the assumption that structural disadvantage causes crime by undermining the capacities of families to care properly for their children.  In this paper I present comparative data on juvenile offending and on family and other social controls in Shanghai and Brisbane (building on the work of the Queensland Sibling Study and the PhD project of Zhigang Wei, a Griffith University student). These data suggest that family and other controls are stronger in Brisbane than in Shanghai, although juvenile crime rates are much higher in Brisbane. It is concluded that western models of crime causation do not translate very well to China, and that basic research on crime and human development in China is required in order to construct appropriate prevention policies.
 

Date: Monday, 10 June 2002

Time: 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Venue: 14/F, Senior Common Room, K.K. Leung Bldg., The University of Hong Kong.
 

Professor Ross Homel is Foundation Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University, and was from February 1994 to April 1999 a part-time Commissioner of the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission. He is also Deputy Director of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance at Griffith University. He was editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology from 1992 to 1995. Professor Homel's major research interests are the prevention of crime, violence and injury, and the associated theoretical and methodological challenges. He is currently heavily involved in several crime prevention projects implemented through community development methods at the local level. His most recent research report, Pathways to Prevention (National Crime Prevention, Canberra, 1999) (completed with colleagues), has attracted wide attention in Australia and overseas.