Different Responses to Violence in Japan and America - Softcover

John P.J. Dussich; Paul C. Friday; Akira Yamagami; Richard D. Knudten; Takayuki Okada

9781881798323: Different Responses to Violence in Japan and America

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1881798321 ISBN 13: 9781881798323

Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001

This comprehensive study compares the dramatically differing responses to criminal violence among citizens of Japan and the U.S., two countries with vastly disparate crime rates. A wealth of findings from surveys conducted in two Japanese and two American cities include the following:

-- Americans are more likely to respond to threats of violence with a lethal weapon (usually a gun), while Japanese give much greater weight to verbal and non-lethal physical responses.

-- In both countries, ownership of a weapon plays an important role in respondents' stated willingness to respond to a threat with the use of physical or lethal force.

-- Americans are more willing than the Japanese to have their police officers use guns in response to threats from civilians.

As a product of these and other findings, theoretical and policy implications are explored.

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About the Author:

John P.J. Dussich is a Professor of Comparative Criminology and Victimology at Tokiwa University in Mito, Japan.

Paul C. Friday is a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte.

Takayuki Okada is a Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University.

Akira Yamagami is a Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University.

Richard D. Knudten is a Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Review:

"...will reward readers who are hungry for comparative insights into the causes and contexts of violence." -- Prof David T. Johnson, The Law and Politics Book Review (January 2002)

"This monograph is very welcome for...methodology and grounding in relevant theory...and joint participation of Japanese and U.S. criminologists." -- Emeritus Professor Elmer H. Johnson, Southern Illinois University

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