Asian Criminology - the Concept and Paradigm

Abstract

Criminology originated in the West, has grown primarily in the West, particularly in the United States, and has achieved tremendous success (Liu, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2024). Theories and policy initiatives are mostly proposed and developed in western contexts. However, research in comparative criminology shows that crime patterns, law, and justice policy and practice vary from country to country (Liu & Messner, 2001; Liu & Palermo, 2009; Liu et al., 2017); the dominant theories often do not work very well in non-Western countries (Liu, 2009, 2017; Liu et al., 2001a; Messner et al., 2018; Messner et al., 2007; Messner et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 1996). A critical challenge for criminology is to resolve the conflict between the universality of theories, which is a basic assumption of sciences, and the cultural variations that are commonly observed across countries and contexts(Liu, 2024; Liu et al., 2021).