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Probably just me, but economist articles never load properly (windows phone, so there's that). Page keeps popping me back up to the top of the article, happened

Probably just me, but economist articles never load properly (windows phone, so there's that). Page keeps popping me back up to the top of the article, happened 4 times and then the text disappeared. Oh well. At least I can infer from the headline that crime is very low in Japan. I wonder what they're doing that the rest of the world aren't

vim_wannabe 9y ago
When everyone agrees to a single set of cultural norms you don't need law enforcement to keep them.
- roryisok 9y ago
  I think there's more to it than that.
- pimmen 9y ago
  That doesn’t explain why crime is going down across the US and the EU too. Correlation does not equal causation.
  - vim_wannabe 9y ago
    I was talking more about the philosophical side of things, what with laws often being cultural norms in writing. So when you have multiple different norms things can get ugly and misunderstandings happen. In some countries they are looking into introducing multiple different laws to alleviate this. Obviously a big part of crime comes out of desperation (hunger) which might be going down as you say.
  - goldfeld 9y ago
    All american-protected. Maybe people are just getting scared shitless with overbearing eyes? Hint: it's not just chilling for crime.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
cperciva 9y ago
Crime rates are dropping almost everywhere; the exceptions are short term increases during episodes of societal disruption (e.g. wars). One of the reasons Japan's rate is so low is that they're ahead of other countries in the race to grow old; the vast majority of crime, and especially violent crime, is committed by young people.
- pimmen 9y ago
  Youth activity is probably a factor. Some anecdata is that, in Sweden, January is usually the month when violent crime is at a very low point in the year. Young people don’t have any money to go out after spending it on Christmas and New Year’s, and it’s super cold so running around in town sucks.
  - interfixus 9y ago
    You do realize who's behind the vast majority of violent crime in Swdeden, right? Hint: Many of them are not particularly known for celebrating Christmas.
    - pimmen 9y ago
      Sweden doesn't record religion in the census. I'm very interested in seeing your source for your statements. And "the vast majority of violent crimes" does not mean that one group is more disproportionally represented. Don't throw around words you don't understand, such as "majority".
    - ambentzen 9y ago
      If you are going to be a racist dick, at least be overt about it...
      - interfixus 9y ago
        Oh, but I probably am a racist dick. In this case, however, I don't need to be. A simple look at statistics will do fine. Another hint: It is not native young Swedes who have suddenly gone on a rampage and turned shootings, killings, and the occasional grenade into mundane, everyday background-noise in places like Malmø. Now your turn to be an overt anatomical metafor.
forgotmypw 9y ago
As crime dries up, Japan’s police hunt for things to do There was just one fatal shooting in the whole of 2015 May 18th 2017 | TOKYO THE stake-out lasted a week, but it paid off in the end. The tireless police of Kagoshima, a sleepy city in the far south of the country, watched the unlocked car day and night. It was parked outside a supermarket, and contained a case of malt beer. Finally, a passing middle-aged man decided to help himself. Five policemen instantly pounced, nabbing one of the city’s few remaining law-breakers. Japan’s cluttered streets are not always pretty but they are remarkably safe. Crime rates have been falling for 13 years. The murder rate of 0.3 per 100,000 people is among the lowest in the world; in America it is almost 4 (see chart). A single gun slaying was recorded for the whole of 2015. Even yakuza gangsters, once a potent criminal force, have been weakened by tougher laws and old age. https://i.imgur.com/QpYCERQ.png https://i.imgur.com/QpYCERQ.png Yet, far from being pensioned off, the police are growing in numbers: beat cops, known colloquially as omawari-san (Mr Walk-around), are a fixture in most neighbourhoods. Japan has over 259,000 uniformed officers—15,000 more than a decade ago, when crime rates were far higher. The ratio of officers to population is very high, especially in Tokyo, home to the world’s biggest metropolitan police force—a quarter bigger than the one protecting New York. This means plenty of attention for crimes that would be considered too petty to investigate elsewhere, such as the theft of a bicycle or the possession of a tiny amount of drugs. One woman describes how five officers crowded into her cramped apartment after she reported her knickers being swiped from a clothesline. A small army of detectives was assigned last year to apprehend a group of 22 people who had been growing marijuana for their personal use only and smoking it in deserted rural spots. In fact, as the police run out of things to do, they are becoming more inventive about what constitutes a crime, says Kanako Takayama of Kyoto University. In one recent case, she says, they arrested a group of people who had shared the cost of renting a car, deeming the arrangement an illegal taxi. Some prefectures have begun prosecuting people who ride their bicycles through red lights. In 2015 a man was arrested for scribbling Adolf Hitler moustaches onto posters of Shinzo Abe, the prime minister. Ms Takayama says detectives have started appearing without permission on university campuses, to monitor “troublesome” students. One reason why police are going after cyclists may be to make up for the steady fall in driving offences. (Both drivers and cyclists can avoid fines by signing up for remedial training at certified driving schools, which are often staffed by retired officers, notes Colin Jones of Doshisha University.) Fifteen years ago police in Hokkaido, in Japan’s sparsely populated north, conspired with yakuza gangsters to smuggle guns into the country so they could meet quotas for finding them. The hunt for things to do may sometimes be beneficial. The number of reported cases of children being abused at home has almost doubled since 2010, despite the declining birth rate. That suggests the police are increasingly intervening in the domestic sphere, which they used to avoid. Even critics of Japan’s justice system accept that it gets a lot right. Rates of recidivism are low and a great deal of effort is made to keep young offenders out of the prison system; police work with parents to keep young people on the straight and narrow. Adults are incarcerated at a far lower rate than in most rich countries: 45 per 100,000, compared with 146 in Britain and 666 in the United States. Yet the police are oddly inefficient. Even though there are so many officers and so few crimes, they solve less than 30% of them. Confessions, often made under duress, form the basis of most criminal prosecutions. The courts dismissed the case of the beer thief in Kagoshima, despite all the work that went into it. Japan is almost crime-free not thanks to the police, says Yoshihiro Yasuda, a campaigning lawyer, but because people police themselves. This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Petty officers"
ch4ck 9y ago
Loaded properly for me: Edge 40.15063.728.0, mobile version.
anvandare 9y ago
The most important factors I'd say would be: (1) overall wealthy (compared to the rest of the world) (2) political stability, strong rule of law, low corruption (3) no extreme differences between rich and poor, with the majority being 'middle class' (neither rich, nor poor). (4) social redistribution and welfare system, reinforcing (3) by avoiding poverty traps (health issues, low education, debt spiral). (5) near mono-culture whose norms and values value conformity and avoiding social friction ("the needs of the many ...") (6) relative isolation to the rest of the world, very strict immigration laws, reinforcing (5) I can see the same properties (somewhat differently, of course) and results in Norway or Switzerland. All factors naturally reinforce each other. There's undoubtedly more, but I think those are the most important ones.
- CryptoPunk 9y ago
  >>social redistribution and welfare system, reinforcing (3) by avoiding poverty traps (health issues, low education, debt spiral). Japan has a Spartan welfare system: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/10/world/welfare-as-japan-knows-it-a-family-affair.html http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/10/world/welfare-as-japan-kno...
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    I recall a ranking a few years back where Japan was the only country in the industrialized world whose welfare system ranked worse than America's.
  - anvandare 9y ago
    I'm definitely far from knowledgeable on the Japanese welfare system (though that article is from 1996) but at least health care and education seem really cheap (and mandatory). As for the livelihood assistance part of welfare, it seems mostly old people make use of it (since unemployment is so low 2.8% in Japan) - which would link to what glandium said in another post: increase in theft by elders. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/06/16/editorials/senior-citizens-welfare/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/06/16/editorials/s...
  - jchb 9y ago
crtqt3 9y ago
Racial (and therefore cultural) homogeny.
JKCalhoun 9y ago
Community policing probably helps. There is a police station every few blocks it seems in Tokyo.

vim_wannabe 9y ago

When everyone agrees to a single set of cultural norms you don't need law enforcement to keep them.

roryisok 9y ago
I think there's more to it than that.
pimmen 9y ago
That doesn’t explain why crime is going down across the US and the EU too. Correlation does not equal causation.
- vim_wannabe 9y ago
  I was talking more about the philosophical side of things, what with laws often being cultural norms in writing. So when you have multiple different norms things can get ugly and misunderstandings happen. In some countries they are looking into introducing multiple different laws to alleviate this. Obviously a big part of crime comes out of desperation (hunger) which might be going down as you say.
- goldfeld 9y ago
  All american-protected. Maybe people are just getting scared shitless with overbearing eyes? Hint: it's not just chilling for crime.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

cperciva 9y ago

Crime rates are dropping almost everywhere; the exceptions are short term increases during episodes of societal disruption (e.g. wars). One of the reasons Japan's rate is so low is that they're ahead of other countries in the race to grow old; the vast majority of crime, and especially violent crime, is committed by young people.

pimmen 9y ago
Youth activity is probably a factor. Some anecdata is that, in Sweden, January is usually the month when violent crime is at a very low point in the year. Young people don’t have any money to go out after spending it on Christmas and New Year’s, and it’s super cold so running around in town sucks.
- interfixus 9y ago
  You do realize who's behind the vast majority of violent crime in Swdeden, right? Hint: Many of them are not particularly known for celebrating Christmas.
  - pimmen 9y ago
    Sweden doesn't record religion in the census. I'm very interested in seeing your source for your statements. And "the vast majority of violent crimes" does not mean that one group is more disproportionally represented. Don't throw around words you don't understand, such as "majority".
  - ambentzen 9y ago
    If you are going to be a racist dick, at least be overt about it...
    - interfixus 9y ago
      Oh, but I probably am a racist dick. In this case, however, I don't need to be. A simple look at statistics will do fine. Another hint: It is not native young Swedes who have suddenly gone on a rampage and turned shootings, killings, and the occasional grenade into mundane, everyday background-noise in places like Malmø. Now your turn to be an overt anatomical metafor.

forgotmypw 9y ago

As crime dries up, Japan’s police hunt for things to do There was just one fatal shooting in the whole of 2015 May 18th 2017 | TOKYO THE stake-out lasted a week, but it paid off in the end. The tireless police of Kagoshima, a sleepy city in the far south of the country, watched the unlocked car day and night. It was parked outside a supermarket, and contained a case of malt beer. Finally, a passing middle-aged man decided to help himself. Five policemen instantly pounced, nabbing one of the city’s few remaining law-breakers. Japan’s cluttered streets are not always pretty but they are remarkably safe. Crime rates have been falling for 13 years. The murder rate of 0.3 per 100,000 people is among the lowest in the world; in America it is almost 4 (see chart). A single gun slaying was recorded for the whole of 2015. Even yakuza gangsters, once a potent criminal force, have been weakened by tougher laws and old age. https://i.imgur.com/QpYCERQ.png https://i.imgur.com/QpYCERQ.png Yet, far from being pensioned off, the police are growing in numbers: beat cops, known colloquially as omawari-san (Mr Walk-around), are a fixture in most neighbourhoods. Japan has over 259,000 uniformed officers—15,000 more than a decade ago, when crime rates were far higher. The ratio of officers to population is very high, especially in Tokyo, home to the world’s biggest metropolitan police force—a quarter bigger than the one protecting New York. This means plenty of attention for crimes that would be considered too petty to investigate elsewhere, such as the theft of a bicycle or the possession of a tiny amount of drugs. One woman describes how five officers crowded into her cramped apartment after she reported her knickers being swiped from a clothesline. A small army of detectives was assigned last year to apprehend a group of 22 people who had been growing marijuana for their personal use only and smoking it in deserted rural spots. In fact, as the police run out of things to do, they are becoming more inventive about what constitutes a crime, says Kanako Takayama of Kyoto University. In one recent case, she says, they arrested a group of people who had shared the cost of renting a car, deeming the arrangement an illegal taxi. Some prefectures have begun prosecuting people who ride their bicycles through red lights. In 2015 a man was arrested for scribbling Adolf Hitler moustaches onto posters of Shinzo Abe, the prime minister. Ms Takayama says detectives have started appearing without permission on university campuses, to monitor “troublesome” students. One reason why police are going after cyclists may be to make up for the steady fall in driving offences. (Both drivers and cyclists can avoid fines by signing up for remedial training at certified driving schools, which are often staffed by retired officers, notes Colin Jones of Doshisha University.) Fifteen years ago police in Hokkaido, in Japan’s sparsely populated north, conspired with yakuza gangsters to smuggle guns into the country so they could meet quotas for finding them. The hunt for things to do may sometimes be beneficial. The number of reported cases of children being abused at home has almost doubled since 2010, despite the declining birth rate. That suggests the police are increasingly intervening in the domestic sphere, which they used to avoid. Even critics of Japan’s justice system accept that it gets a lot right. Rates of recidivism are low and a great deal of effort is made to keep young offenders out of the prison system; police work with parents to keep young people on the straight and narrow. Adults are incarcerated at a far lower rate than in most rich countries: 45 per 100,000, compared with 146 in Britain and 666 in the United States. Yet the police are oddly inefficient. Even though there are so many officers and so few crimes, they solve less than 30% of them. Confessions, often made under duress, form the basis of most criminal prosecutions. The courts dismissed the case of the beer thief in Kagoshima, despite all the work that went into it. Japan is almost crime-free not thanks to the police, says Yoshihiro Yasuda, a campaigning lawyer, but because people police themselves. This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Petty officers"

ch4ck 9y ago

Loaded properly for me: Edge 40.15063.728.0, mobile version.

anvandare 9y ago

The most important factors I'd say would be: (1) overall wealthy (compared to the rest of the world) (2) political stability, strong rule of law, low corruption (3) no extreme differences between rich and poor, with the majority being 'middle class' (neither rich, nor poor). (4) social redistribution and welfare system, reinforcing (3) by avoiding poverty traps (health issues, low education, debt spiral). (5) near mono-culture whose norms and values value conformity and avoiding social friction ("the needs of the many ...") (6) relative isolation to the rest of the world, very strict immigration laws, reinforcing (5) I can see the same properties (somewhat differently, of course) and results in Norway or Switzerland. All factors naturally reinforce each other. There's undoubtedly more, but I think those are the most important ones.

CryptoPunk 9y ago
>>social redistribution and welfare system, reinforcing (3) by avoiding poverty traps (health issues, low education, debt spiral). Japan has a Spartan welfare system: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/10/world/welfare-as-japan-knows-it-a-family-affair.html http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/10/world/welfare-as-japan-kno...
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  I recall a ranking a few years back where Japan was the only country in the industrialized world whose welfare system ranked worse than America's.
- anvandare 9y ago
  I'm definitely far from knowledgeable on the Japanese welfare system (though that article is from 1996) but at least health care and education seem really cheap (and mandatory). As for the livelihood assistance part of welfare, it seems mostly old people make use of it (since unemployment is so low 2.8% in Japan) - which would link to what glandium said in another post: increase in theft by elders. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/06/16/editorials/senior-citizens-welfare/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2016/06/16/editorials/s...
- jchb 9y ago

crtqt3 9y ago

Racial (and therefore cultural) homogeny.

JKCalhoun 9y ago

Community policing probably helps. There is a police station every few blocks it seems in Tokyo.