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8 Criminology & Crim. Just. 5 (2008)

handle is hein.journals/crmcj8 and id is 1 raw text is: 




ARTICLES


                             Criminology & Criminal justice
                                  @ 2008 SAGE Publications
                 (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)
                         and the British Society of Criminology.
                                 www.sagepublications.com
                             ISSN 1748-8958; Vol: 8(1): 5-25
                           DOI: 10.1177/1748895807085867



The killing of children by children as a

symptom of national crisis:

Reactions in Britain and Japan


DAVID SMITH AND KIYOKO SUEDA
Lancaster   University, UK  and  Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan


Abstract
In this article, we describe and analyse the public and political
responses to two notorious cases of the killing of children by
children, one in Merseyside, England and one in Kobe, Japan. We
discuss the ways in which the cases were presented as symptomatic
of wider social problems, and how in both Britain and Japan they
acted as a catalyst for changes in the juvenile criminal justice system.
The article describes and attempts to explain both similarities and
differences in the reactions to the killings in Britain and Japan, arguing
that while the differences may be more obvious the similarities may
be more instructive, and setting the description in the context of
penological arguments about globalization and the emergence of a
postmodern  penality. We conclude that neither country is as unique
in its responses to juvenile crime as is sometimes claimed, and that
despite 'postmodern' anxieties and scepticism in both countries,
a 'modernist' welfare approach to the reintegration of the killers
remained feasible in both Britain and Japan.

Key  Words

child killing * Japan * media * reintegration * social crisis




Introduction

In this article we explore the reactions in Britain and Japan to two cases of
killing by children of children: the 1993 case of James Bulger and the 1997


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