How to explain juvenile delinquent behaviour in the Japan of the nineties? Are its reasons really fundamentally different from those in other societies?
Juvenile Delinquency in Japan, written by leading Japanese and German scholars, for the first time looks comprehensively into the phenomenon. It does so from a variety of disciplines; law, sociology, education, and Japanese studies. Thus it explores the legal provisions, conditions of schooling, family life, and social change in society as a framework for understanding delinquent behaviour in Japanese high school students.
It becomes clear that reasons for delinquency are the same in Japan as in other societies. Fundamentally different, however, are the high sensitivity to delinquent behaviour and the tremendous efforts to prevent nonconformist behaviour.