Dennis S. W. Wong

School Bullying and Tackling Strategies in Hong Kong

In view of the rising problem of school bullying in Hong Kong, scholars have endeavored to study the prevalence, causes, and tackling strategies of school bullying. This article highlights some typical incidences of school violence and reports research results of school bullying. It is noted unresolved school bullying problems are often a precursor of school violence and delinquency. Based on results from local studies of bullying, this article identifies risk and protective factors that contribute to the emergence and continuation of the bullyvictim problem in Hong Kong. The article argues that suppressive tactics, such as reprimanding bullies, calling parents to school, and suspension, are ineffective. Other than suppressive tactics, adopting a comprehensive antibullying strategy such as assisting students to develop adequate self-competency, strong social skills, and good relationships with parents and teachers seems to be a useful antiviolence strategy.

School Bullying Among Hong Kong Chinese Primary Schoolchildren

The first comprehensive survey of 7,025 Chinese primary schoolchildren found that 24% of respondents reported that they had sometimes physically bullied another child. When children observed school bullying, 56% said they immediately reported it to their teachers. Another 20% tried to stop the bullying by approaching the bullies. The study also identified factors associated with bullying. These included coming from an adverse psychosocial background and having more contact with violent values through association with deviant peers and exposure to the mass media. On the basis of the research findings, potential methods of bullying intervention are discussed.

Program Effectiveness of a Restorative Whole- School Approach for Tackling School Bullying in Hong Kong

With bullying in schools high on policy makers’ agendas, researchers are looking for effective strategies to tackle its disruptive effects. The present study sets out to address this issue. First, the prevalence of bullying is examined in Hong Kong High Schools, and second, the effectiveness of a Restorative Whole-school Approach (RWsA) in reducing bullying is examined in a quasi-experimental design. The RWsA emphasizes the setting up of restorative goals, clear instructions, team building, and good relationships among students, parents, and teachers. Over the course of 2 years, and across four schools, the effectiveness of this program was observed by comparing an intervention group with a partial intervention group (which did not receive the full treatment) and a control group (which received no treatment whatsoever). The group that received the RWsA treatment exhibited a significant reduction of bullying, higher empathic attitudes, and higher self-esteem in comparison to the partial intervention and the control group.

Juvenile Crime and Responses to Delinquency in Hong Kong

This article describes the juvenile crime trend and responses to juvenile delinquency in Hong Kong since the 1970s. It explores how changing conceptions of the causes of juvenile crime have influenced delinquency control policies. Although Hong Kong has a relatively low crime rate, the heavy emphasis on the use of custodial programs over community-based programs is obvious. Whereas the scope of delinquency literature is narrow and the legal professional’s opinion is rather conservative, new initiatives to further advance the juvenile justice system are difficult.

Changes in Juvenile Justice in China.

This article discusses the trend of juvenile and youth crime, which has been on the rise during the past 40 years in China. With the help of literature derived from Chinese policy documents and criminological sources, it highlights the essence of Chinese Marxist criminological thought and the changing conceptions of delinquency from the postrevolutionary period to the present. It also examines official responses to delinquency as well as the recent development of juvenile justice in China. The article argues that the current system of delinquency control and juvenile justice should gradually move toward the adoption of a just restorative approach.

Diversion From Youth Courts in Five Asia Pacific Jurisdictions Welfare or Restorative Solutions

Since the 1970s, there has been a trend to move away from punitive and retributive approaches to reintegrative practices. This article provides an account of how young offenders in five Asia Pacific jurisdictions are diverted from being prosecuted in the youth courts and of to where they are diverted. The five cases demonstrate that diversionary measures in the Australasian jurisdictions tend to be more restorative in their practices than are those in Chinese-dominated jurisdictions, which adopt welfare responses. It is concluded that although there is some progress in the areas of decarceration and delegalization, the diversion goals of decategorization and deprofessionalization in Chinese-dominated jurisdictions have yet to be achieved. Such diversionary strategies carry the risk that many more young people committing minor offences may be subject to more intrusive measures and disguised social control in the name of diversion, welfare, or the prevention of future offending.

Delinquency Control and Juvenile Justice in China

This paper provides an overview of the recent developments in juvenile justice in China. With the improvement in the overall economy, there has been a genuine rise in delinquency. This paper describes the trend of youth crimes, and how informal grassroots networks and formal correctional institutions play their roles in delinquency control. The author argues that the inseparable relationship between the Communist Party and control systems, the frequent turnover of volunteers, and insufficient professional manpower hinder the development of a fair and independent juvenile justice system. Finally, the paper highlights what should be preliminary direction for the further development of the systems of delinquency control and juvenile justice.

Pathways to Delinquency in Hong Kong and Guangzhou (South China)

ABSTRACT Criminologists have endeavored to incorporate the most promising insights from various sociological perspectives into a single integrated causal model to explain delinquency since the late 1970s. Based on the findings of Western researchers and the writers own social work experience, an interactional theoretical model is constructed to explain the onset and continuation of delinquency. The model incorporates essential criminogenic factors from several theories, such as strain, social control, differential association and labeling. Based on the qualitative analysis of the data collected from 63 in-depth interviews with delinquents and non-delinquents in Hong Kong and Guangzhou (South China), the results support the research evidence from the US and UK in the past few decades that no single theory can explain the onset, escalation and withdrawal from delinquency.

Maltreatment and Delinquency in China Examining and Extending the Intervening Process of General Strain Theory

Using a sample of 1,163 adolescents from four middle schools in China, this study explores the intervening process of how adolescent maltreatment is related to delinquency within the framework of general strain theory (GST) by comparing two models. The first model is Agnew’s integrated model of GST, which examines the mediating effects of social control, delinquent peer affiliation, state anger, and depression on the relationship between maltreatment and delinquency. Based on this model, with the intent to further explore the mediating effects of state anger and depression and to investigate whether their effects on delinquency can be demonstrated more through delinquent peer affiliation and social control, an extended model (Model 2) is proposed by the authors. The second model relates state anger to delinquent peer affiliation and state depression to social control. By comparing the fit indices and the significance of the hypothesized paths of the two models, the study found that the extended model can better reflect the mechanism of how maltreatment contributes to delinquency, whereas the original integrated GST model only receives partial support because of its failure to find the mediating effects of state negative emotions.

The recent development of restorative social work practices in Hong Kong

Restorative justice has grown rapidly in the last two decades with the emergence of new practice approaches in juvenile justice and school social work.This article briefly analyses the backgrounds leading to the emergence of restorative justice around the world. It highlights the basic ideas and themes of restorative justice, and discusses how it may be adopted in youth services such as school social work and juvenile justice in Hong Kong.