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Drug traffickers perform many crime strategies to avoid legal sanctions. The use of any crime strategy is mainly for reducing the risk of arrest, which has been the focus of research on restrictive deterrence. This study aims to develop a Restrictive Deterrence Utility Scale (RDUS) to measure the effectiveness of crime strategies used in drug trafficking. Survey data were collected from August to October 2021, including 294 female drug offenders aged between 21 and 61 years serving sentences with a median length of around 10 years in a Southern city in Mainland China. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for scale investigation. Three valid and reliable factors for the RDUS were found: anomaly avoidance, reduction of exposure time, and the use of weapons and tools. Composite reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity of three factors were confirmed with Cronbach α being higher than 0.9, that being higher than correspondent Average Variance Extracted which all being higher than 0.5 and higher than correspondent factor correlation. The RDUS offers a helpful method for assessing the motivation for drug traffickers to persist in drug crime and for formulating appropriate interventions for drug prohibition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors report an evaluation of the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Volunteer Functions Inventory on a sample of university student volunteers. Reliabilities were high for four out of the six scales of the Inventory (Values, Career, Social, and Understanding) in terms of internal consistency. Items in these four scales also yielded a clean structure in an exploratory factor analysis. Making new friends was found to be a motive, which was separate from sustaining friendships and separate from other motives captured by the Inventory. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the superiority of a 6-factor model over other measurement models such as unitary, bipartite, and second-order factor models. Implications for the measurement of motives in volunteerism in general and refinement of the Inventory in particular, are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Since the handover of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain to China in 1997, convergence between Mainland China and Hong Kong has gradually emerged. During this process, young people have engaged in demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction with government policies and limited socio-economic progression. However, the underlying reasons for their dissatisfaction have not been fully investigated. This study investigates their perceived challenges and opportunities during the convergence, with the objective of identifying the factors affecting the Mainland China–Hong Kong convergence and examining young people's perceived challenges and opportunities during the convergence. Mixed research methods of focus groups and a survey were adopted. Ten focus groups with 83 participants were conducted to collect qualitative data on the factors relating to convergence. Based on the qualitative data, a questionnaire was constructed to investigate young people's perceived challenges and opportunities during the convergence, using a sample of 1253 young people. Ordinary least-squares regression was applied to analyse the relationships among identified factors. The study found that Hong Kong's youth tended to regard the Mainland China–Hong Kong convergence as an opportunity for socio-economic progression, and they identified three challenges during the convergence. It also revealed that young people's higher education, perceived housing challenges, and perceived socio-economic challenges are negatively related to the convergence, whereas their perceived challenges associated with entrepreneurship and innovation are positively related to the convergence. The development of more well-balanced and mutually beneficial policies that satisfy the needs of young people will lead to a higher acceptance of the convergence. As such, young people will be more willing to embrace the opportunities and face the challenges brought about by the convergence, resulting in a more harmonious society and socio-economic progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The custom of ghost marriages has been passed down since the ancient times in China. Adults who died before marriage could not be buried with their ancestors. Their families did not want to leave bodies outside, as they believed that the spirits would become lonely. Instead, they wished to find husbands or wives for their dead relatives to continue the family tree. The custom has spawned a large ghost bride market, resulting in the trading of female corpses. This industry and its profits have driven criminals to kidnap and murder women, raid tombs and morgues, steal and traffic corpses. The study demonstrates that while in the folklore the stigma of being unmarried should apply to both men and women, the corpses trafficked are mainly women and in poorer provinces. While ghost marriages create a market of supply and demand in booming rural China, the market also indicates income and gender inequality behind the crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clarifying conditions for advancing volunteers' cohesion toward society (i.e., social cohesion), which means attachment to and benefiting society, is relevant to the mission of voluntary organizations. Such clarification is necessary in face of contradictory views between the reinforcement and empowerment models. Specifically, the reinforcement model envisions that organizational facilitation contributes more to a volunteer's social cohesion when the volunteer's prior social cohesion is higher. Organizational facilitation hereby includes support and training provided by the voluntary organization. By contrast, the empowerment model anticipates that organizational facilitation contributes more to a volunteer's social cohesion when the volunteer's prior social cohesion is lower. To clarify the conditions, a two-wave survey in China collected panel data from 456 volunteers for analysis. Results show significant positive main and interaction effects due to organizational facilitation on the volunteer's social cohesion. Essentially, the interaction effect indicated that the volunteer's prior social cohesion enhanced the contribution of organizational facilitation to social cohesion. Results therefore support the reinforcement model rather than the empowerment model. This implies the usefulness of the reinforcement model to inform organizational facilitation to raise volunteers' social cohesion and other performances compatible with organizational goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, few studies have focused on how the public has perceived the effectiveness of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Furthermore, little is known about how the public has assessed the functions of the ICAC during the political-economic convergence between Hong Kong and mainland China since 1997. This study attempts to explore local politicians' perceptions towards the ICAC in post-1997 Hong Kong. The quantitative data show that the important historical juncture of mainlandization has been politicized in Hong Kong and has deeply influenced the seriousness attached by local politicians to corruption. Moreover, a mediating path of the effect of "Conflict of Interest" on the "Perceived Seriousness of Corruption" has been found, that is, mainlandization is found to have brought about increased levels of conflict of interest among government officials, which has weakened the symbolic anti-corruption function of the ICAC and, in turn, has affected the perceived seriousness attached to corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recidivism research on Hong Kong’s incarcerated population is limited, and little is known about the reoffending risk of incarcerated repeat offenders. The purpose of this study is to identify the reoffending risk of a sample of incarcerated male offenders with previous incarceration record based on their anticipation of reoffending. Using a self-reported methodological design, 351 incarcerated violent and nonviolent offenders are sampled. A number of self-anticipated reoffending risk factors are identified. The offenders’ age, illicit drug use, pro-offending attitudes, negative self-perception, familial detachment, deviant peer influence, poor prosocial attachment, and domestic and community criminogenic exposures are found to have significant predictive effects on their self-anticipated reoffending risk. Implications for intervention strategies with emphasis on these risk factors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars categorize societies into "rule of man" societies, "rule by law" societies, and "rule of law" societies on the basis of a status of law. After 1978, China's leaders invoked law as an alternative to the arbitrariness of the Cultural Revolution. In this study, we used quantitative methods to explore university students' views on the status of law in post-reform China. Surveys were conducted in three national universities located in different regions of China. Responses from university students show that their perceptions of well-developed legislation and perceptions of the publicity of law are associated with their perceptions of equality before the law, which could be the consequence of a "rule of law" system. However, the study found that university students are of the view that the political nature of legislation and interference in law enforcement moderate the relationship between legislation and equality before the law. The political nature of legislation also moderates the mediation effect of interference in law enforcement between law publicity and equality before the law. As such, the article concludes that although university students are no longer primary movers in China's social and political development after the Tiananmen incident, they are still knowledgeable if not critical about the status of law and its political implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over-reliance on confession has had a long history in the Chinese criminal justice system. Recent high-profile wrongful conviction cases have raised public awareness of the coercive and torturous methods used to extract confessions. Despite the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty, Hong Kong remains a common law jurisdiction and the most serious criminal offences are tried by a jury. The present study empirically examines the relative impact of DNA evidence, confession, eyewitness testimony, and victim testimony in a Hong Kong–Chinese mock juror sample. The results show that the participants placed greater value on DNA evidence than on confession, and placed the lowest value on testimonial evidence. It is argued that the situation of “one country, two cultures” remains strong: Whereas participants are still influenced by the Chinese criminal justice concept of confession, their judgment is still predominately influenced by the scientific evidence as commonly practiced in the West. Thus, no solid evidence has been found to confirm the emergence of mainlandization in Hong Kong’s criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been asserted that criminal law and common morality are not sufficient terms to describe specific behaviors as corruption because those in power have the capacity to include or exclude certain behavior as a category in the law. Thus, corruption should not be just treated as an objective behavioral category but as a form of social censure. This article reports on a quantitative and qualitative study that collected the views of Chinese youth on the control of corruption in China. It was found that they agreed with the moral-negative judgements behind the censure of corruption, and that bureaucratic forces can be mobilised to punish the corrupt and degrade their status. Mediation analysis discovered that political functions mediate the association between the moral-negative nature and bureaucratic form of the censure of corruption and status degradation of the censured. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a study of workplace violence over 1,198 organizations in Hong Kong which including both private organizations and government organizations. The author explains that physical violence as defined by the study ranges from homicide to stalking, threats, and verbal abuse. The results indicate that the majority of the violence experienced by respondents consisted of verbal abuse.

This article examines the political and legal barriers to introducing restorative justice (RJ) in Hong Kong. It argues that the processes involved in RJ may be in conflict with the rule of law, which is regarded by the citizens of Hong Kong as sacrosanct in their resistance to the “mainlandization” of criminal justice practices after China resumed sovereignty of Hong Kong. It is argued that, because it could admit such potentially harmful Chinese criminal justice concepts as “rule by the people,” “absence of the presumption of innocence,” “leniency for self-confession and severity for resistance,” and “toeing the party line,” RJ would be devoid of any restorative substance and could breach the principles of due process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Hong Kong, youth gangs are heavily influenced by triad societies, and the present article examines how young people are ‘triadized’ through three main channels during their participation in gang activities. First, the spider’s web structure absorbs young people into the gang and then ties them into a triad big brother and follower relationship. Second, triad elements and knowledge are transmitted via routine activities of the youth gang. Third, the tacit but very much enforced norms and controls of a youth gang lead its members to conform to triad commands and assimilate triad values. It is concluded that triadization of youth gangs provides new blood to triad societies that continue to survive across different generations over time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the author discusses various articles within the issue including "Inside the Cambodian Correctional System'", "Restorative justice and practices in China" and "An Introduction to Restorative Justice Practices in Taiwan".

In view of the smuggling out of democratic leaders after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 and China's resumption of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, China applied a ‘united front’ tactic to recruit Hong Kong triad societies to the Communist camp. Consequently, triad leaders were able to set foot in China and bridge up with officials and state enterprises. Against this backdrop, this paper argues that when political dynamics is involved, both the traditional structural and social network approaches are insufficient to explain triad-organized crime. Therefore, social capital perspective is proposed. Using two case studies, it was discovered that the triad leaders converted the social capital they developed in mainland China into economic capital through illegitimate means in the stock market. The paper concludes by highlighting the similarities and differences between this triad-organized crime and other forms of Chinese organized crime. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public security officers are the first to be called upon to restore order where an incident has been precipitated by a person with mental illness. The paper introduces the steps followed by the officers in handling the case. Problems related to mental health legislation, guardianship, medical services, and policing practices are examined. Since there are not yet comprehensive policies and legislation to protect mental patients in China, it is suggested that more police training be introduced, effective internal monitoring be enforced to limit police discretion, and collaboration between public security, civil affairs and health departments be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the transferability of task-centered casework to group- work in Hong Kong. While task-centered casework helps individual clients to solve their personal problems, its short intervention period may limit the development of intensive social support and treatment in groups. The article summarizes social workers' experiences in reconciling this conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programmes for disadvantaged youths have become a priority of the youth centres in Hong Kong. This article introduces the psychosocial problems encountered by immigrant youths and the kinds of supportive services provided to them. It concludes that they are satisfied with the services and have also experienced personal growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an argument that the channel of distribution reflects the economic development of a country. China is a developing country. When supermarket technology was introduced to China in 1981, supermarkets were mainly serving visitors from overseas. When the economic environment improved during the 1990s, supermarkets in China shifted focus to the local community. The findings of this study showed that the nature of problems faced by supermarkets changed over time during the past 18 years. In the 1980s, most of the problems were related to technology transfer and the support from supplementary industries. In the 1990s, the problems were mainly related to competition and management issues. If China joins the WTO the Chinese government will speed up the development of the service industry. Supermarkets will then become a new power in the retailing industry in China. Multinational retailing giants will play a significant role in the technology transfer. However, their presence will also create tremendous pressure on local operators, forcing many inefficient ones out of the retailing scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effect of legal constraints imposed upon the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on the ability of the government agency to fight corruption in Hong Kong, China. Information on the dispute between the ICAC and human rights activists; Details on the legal constraints and regulations imposed upon the ICAC; Discussion on the effectiveness of the ICAC after the imposition of the legal constraints.

Examines the political-criminal nexus (PCN) in Hong Kong, China. Involvement of appointed officials in organized crime; Facilitating factors for the establishment of PCN; Inhibiting factors for the development of PCN; How PCN developed and is maintained; Strategies for preventing and breaking the PCN.

Project Bridge, as a new, contextualized positive education program, is designed to enhance university students' character strengths and moral development, resulting in the promotion of their psychological wellbeing. Taking into account the differences between Western and Chinese cultures, the project integrated both Western and Asian concepts and values in the delivery of university education that would likely bring about optimal outcomes. In the evaluation, mixed methods were applied to demonstrate the outcomes of this newly developed positive education program. Pre- and post-test, as well as reflective writing, were adopted to measure the outcomes. Both quantitative and qualitative results demonstrated satisfying outcomes. Implications and future developments are discussed in the conclusion.

Aim: to explore Hong Kong Chinese women's experiences and perceptions of elective caesarean section performed under regional anaesthesia., Design: an exploratory study using a qualitative approach. Data were collected by tape-recorded in-depth interviews two to five days after caesarean section., Participants: a purposive sample of 18 Hong Kong Chinese women having an uncomplicated, elective caesarean section under successful regional anaesthesia., Setting: a post-caesarean ward of a University affiliated District General Hospital in Hong Kong., Key Findings: the three categories relating to the overall theme of Consciousness during Surgery were: Interacting with others, Experience of birthing, and Awareness of the environment., Implications for Practice: the experiences of women, related to the general theme and categories cited above, affected their feelings of security and fulfillment. On the whole, women were satisfied with the regional anaesthesia, preferring to remain conscious throughout the surgery. They appreciated being able to interact with others and listening to music, but needed information regarding what was happening. Many were distressed by the sight and noise of surgical instruments, the narrowness of the operating table, the operating theatre lamps and the coldness of the theatre. Recommendations for practice are made relating to these issues., (Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.)

Serum immunoglobulin levels (IgA, IgG and IgM) were determined by an immunoelectrophoretic method in two separate series of Chinese male schizophrenics and healthy controls. In the first series, 41 healthy male blood donors and 98 schizophrenic patients in different stages of the disease were investigated. In the second series a random sample of 50 acutely ill male schizophrenic patients were investigated along with a second group of healthy male subjects. Serum IgG levels were significantly higher in schizophrenics in both the series (p < 0.001). Serum IgA levels were similar in both the patient and control series. Serum IgM levels were significantly higher in schizophrenic patients having acute or severe illness (p < 0.05 and 0.01, respectively). Serum albumin levels were significantly lower in the patients compared to healthy controls. The above changes in immunoglobulins in schizophrenics were not related to duration or dosage of medication with neuroleptic drugs.