Criminal research and culture

Author: Li Xihai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: I first became acquainted with Professor Li Xihai through his edited academic journal. Professor Li has long served as the editor-in-chief of Shandong Police Journal, which has consistently highlighted criminal law, possesses a distinctive personality, and is renowned for its academic excellence and high citation rate, making it deeply favored by the academic community. Upon closely reading this academic journal, I deeply felt that the journal is like its editor-in-chief—meticulously pursuing innovation in every aspect, from overall planning to section design, from academic orientation to nurturing new talents. It can be said that a clear innovative philosophy is a key feature of the journal. In the early 1990s, I read Professor Li's book Criminal Investigation Thinking. This book pioneered the study of criminal investigation thinking in China, applying general research findings in the field of thinking science to criminal investigation, revealing the patterns and characteristics of investigative thinking activities. It undoubtedly holds significant importance for the investigative subjects to achieve scientific and modernized thinking methods, thereby improving investigative efficiency and case-solving levels. The book broadened the scope of criminal investigation research, demonstrating an innovative spirit in its topic selection, system construction, and theoretical explanations. It also exhibited the characteristics of emerging and interdisciplinary fields, leaving a profound impression on me. Like his edited academic journal, Professor Li's academic monographs prioritize theoretical innovation as their fundamental value, which is a key reason for his continuous achievements in academic research. Professor Li has always attached great importance to the theoretical research of criminology, not only through the journal he edits but also through his own work, where he has made outstanding accomplishments. He has long been concerned with the study of culture and crime. I remember that in the early 1990s, he published an article titled Culture, Cultural Environment, and Juvenile Crime. Due to its novel perspectives, the article was recognized by academia as one of the representative theoretical viewpoints in the study of the origins of crime and was summarized as the "Cultural Nature Theory." Whether this summary is accurate or not is debatable, but the fact remains that the article had a certain impact on academia due to its innovative views. This book Culture and Crime Research is essentially a comprehensive expansion, enrichment, supplementation, and development of the theoretical viewpoints presented in that earlier article. The study of the relationship between culture and crime is not only correct but also highly important. Culture not only influences the occurrence of crime but can also define (or redefine) crime. For example, regarding the act of a mother committing suicide with her two children, different countries have entirely opposite judgments on whether it constitutes a crime. The relationship between culture and crime is fundamental, and to some extent, it can even be described as an "ultimate" relationship. Therefore, this topic has long attracted the attention of criminologists, who have conducted various studies on it. Western criminological theories such as the "Cultural Conflict Theory" and the so-called "Subculture Theory" are among the influential doctrines in this field. The renowned Chinese sociologist and criminologist Yan Jingyao, as early as the 1930s, paid attention to this issue. In his doctoral dissertation China's Crime Problem and Its Relationship with Social Change, he dedicated a chapter to "The Culture of Criminals" and proposed the famous arguments that "to understand crime, one must understand the culture in which it occurs" and "crime can only be fully explained by culture," offering profound insights to later generations. The research conducted by foreigners and earlier Chinese scholars in this field is not insignificant. However, the relationship between culture and crime remains an eternal research topic. Culture is concrete—it is specific to a particular time and place. Different countries, ethnic groups, regions, and periods have different cultures, making the study of the relationship between culture and crime a perpetually relevant academic topic worthy of continuous innovative research by criminologists. Furthermore, if the relationship between culture and crime is fundamental, then the academic research level of a country on this relationship should also be one of the important indicators of the country's overall criminological research level. I believe that as criminological research in China continues to flourish and develop, new achievements in the study of culture and crime will continue to emerge. However, for a long time, the Chinese criminological community has not placed sufficient emphasis on this issue, resulting in limited achievements, especially a lack of comprehensive, systematic, and in-depth academic monographs on the topic. This is a regrettable situation for the Chinese criminological community. Professor Li's academic work represents an innovative attempt in this area, to some extent filling this gap, and thus its publication is worth celebrating. This book treats culture and crime as a whole, conducting a comprehensive and systematic study. From the ontological study of culture and crime to the general study of culture and crime, and then to the classified study of culture and crime, it explores the relationship between culture and crime in a layered manner. It not only delves deeply into the fundamental theories of culture and crime but also reveals the impact of various cultural forms on crime, while also emphasizing the role of different subcultural forms in specific crime types. This multifaceted exploration of the relationship between culture and crime demonstrates a certain degree of comprehensiveness and systematicity, constructing a relatively complete theoretical framework for the topic. This is one manifestation of its innovation. The book essentially takes the intersection of cultural studies and criminology as an entry point to study crime issues, thus exhibiting the characteristics of interdisciplinary and marginal disciplines. This requires the author to be familiar with and understand the basic theories and new research findings in cultural studies. As seen in the content of the book, whether in its ontological study of culture and crime, general study, or classified study, it fully reflects this point. Particularly in the research on cultural environment and crime, cultural communication and crime, cultural consumption and crime, and cultural conflict and crime, the cultural theories involved are not only specific but also cutting-edge. Since crime is a complex social phenomenon with complex psychological motivations, this research involves theoretical knowledge from multiple disciplines, such as sociology and psychology. In the classified study, due to the need to clarify the relationship between various subcultural forms and specific crime types, it involves even more specific disciplinary knowledge. For example, studying market culture and economic crime involves economics; studying gang culture and organized crime involves history; studying power culture and corruption crime involves political science, etc. From the perspectives of numerous disciplines, this cross-disciplinary study of crime presents novel angles and fresh knowledge, which is another manifestation of its innovation. The difficulty in this research lies in grasping the entry points and mechanisms through which macro cultural phenomena are linked to crime and influence crime occurrence. Professor Li does not shy away from these challenging issues but confronts them directly, striving to overcome them, and thus arrives at many unique theoretical insights, once again demonstrating the author's innovative spirit. For instance, when studying the mechanism by which the cultural environment affects crime, the book argues that the cultural environment's impact on the socialization process of individuals lies in creating specific external conditions for the interplay of their animalistic and cultural natures. A good cultural environment can promote the reinforcement of cultural nature and the weakening of animal nature, creating favorable conditions for cultural nature to overcome animal nature. Conversely, a poor cultural environment can lead to the weakening of cultural nature and the strengthening of animal nature, providing necessary conditions for animal nature to break free from cultural nature. Criminal behavior results from the malignant expansion of animal nature and the exclusion of cultural nature, so a poor cultural environment acts as a catalyst for crime. Similarly, when studying the mechanism by which cultural conflict leads to crime, the book argues that cultural conflict can trigger crime not only because it causes conflicts in behavioral norms but also because it fosters the formation of criminal psychology and weakens criminal control, including legal and moral control. Cultural conflict weakens legal control because it creates confusion in value choices, and it weakens moral control because it creates confusion in personality worship. These views are very fresh. It can be said that this book, like Professor Li's previous academic works, prioritizes theoretical innovation as its most important pursuit. "Innovation is the soul of a nation's progress and an inexhaustible driving force for a country's prosperity," and it is also the lifeblood of scientific research. In today's academic environment, where is prevalent, vigorously advocating and encouraging an innovative spirit should be a top priority. Sincerely hope that the criminological community in China will produce more innovative works. Wang Mu, President of the Research Committee of the Chinese Criminological Society, Professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, and Doctoral Supervisor December 2005, Beijing Century New View