A New Age of Criminology in a Post-COVID-19 Era
A “Compassionate Criminology” that Supports “Desistance” from “Deviance”

The Birth of Traditional Criminology

Criminology first emerged in Europe in the latter half of the 19th century. Criminology is an academic discipline that aims to provide scientific explanations for criminal phenomena, pose rational measures to counter these phenomena, and implement these measures.
The discipline is characterized by empiricism and practicality. In Japan, criminology is taught in law departments as criminal justice and criminal policy, in sociology departments as criminal sociology, in psychology departments as criminal psychology, and in medical departments as forensic medicine and judicial medicine. By contrast, universities in the US and Europe have established departments of criminology or criminal justice where these various subjects are taught together. Outside Japan, there are also graduate schools that grant master’s and doctoral degrees in criminology and train high-level experts and scholars in the field. It is worth noting, the academic discipline of criminology not only creates scholars and experts, but also improves literacy (basic knowledge) in the general population on crime, delinquency, and criminal justice. In other words, criminology is a field of study that is essential to civic life.

Basic Principles of Criminology at Ryukoku

The Criminology Research Center at Ryukoku University has pursued various endeavors in research, education, and social practice in order to describe criminal and delinquent phenomena empirically from the perspective of human sciences, social sciences, and natural sciences, and to construct rational criminal policy based on assistance for offenders and juvenile delinquents. Our intention is to produce experts in criminology capable of spreading findings on Japanese criminal phenomena and criminal policy to the wider world, and of making constructive proposals for criminal justice in foreign countries.

Transcending Judicial Boundaries, into the Wider Community

In terms of criminal statistics, Japan has the smallest number of known criminal cases in the world, the smallest prison population in the world, and is considered a safe country with low levels of crime. Nevertheless, not everyone has confidence in Japan as a nation and there is increasing unease with Japanese society.

Crime prevention and recidivism prevention are becoming wider social issues faced not only by the national government but also by local governments. Enacted in 2016, the Japan’s Act for the Prevention of Recidivism mandates that the central government undertakes research and study on recidivism prevention and also that local governments formulate plans for recidivism prevention (decentralization). The problems of crime and delinquency have expanded beyond the domains of justice and legal affairs and spread to other areas such as welfare and medicine, childcare and education, and the local community (urban development).
Franz Eduard von Liszt (1851 to 1919), the founder of modern criminal policy studies in Germany, once said, “the best possible criminal policy is also the best social policy.” Findings in criminology are based on a framework of public security measures and social defense, and seek to expand the foundations of social welfare and community development.

A Key Concept in New Criminology:
“Desistance” from “Deviance”

To be able to understand the diverse range of modern deviant phenomena, we propose going beyond the conventional domains of criminal act and delinquent behavior and studying a broad range of “deviance,” which includes precursors of criminal act and delinquent behavior. Furthermore, based on the research and study conducted to date, we have concluded that social isolation is at the root of “deviance.” For someone to escape isolation and overcome deviance, they must recover their subjectivity. This process to recovery we define as “desistance.”

From the perspective of new criminology, factors that prevent crime are continuously at work even during everyday life, whether it be consciously or unconsciously. “Desistance” cannot be achieved with individual effort alone, and requires the combined efforts of family and neighbors, members of the community and staff at public institutions, and experts and scholars. In other words, this new criminology is profoundly concerned with restoring and revitalizing a diverse community. As such, when the findings of new criminology are applied, they promise to affect many aspects of human development, including childcare and parenting, education and welfare, and aging and life satisfaction.

The Goal of New Criminology and the Expected Human Ideal

Rooted in the spirit and traditions of the Honganji sect of Shin Buddhism, the parent organization of Ryukoku University, and based on the theme of “desistance” from “deviance,” a situation that anyone may encounter in the course of life, the goal of new criminology is to construct a transdisciplinary field of criminology that studies the concept of “practice” based on scientific evidences and with interpersonal support at its core. In dealing with problems, the basic principles of this new criminology are “compassionate criminology” and “developing people and communities capable of responding flexibly to troubled people.” To achieve this, leaders are needed with an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspective.

Points of Study

The criminology curriculum offered by the Criminology Research Center is based on the three scientific perspectives of liberal arts education: human sciences, social sciences, and natural sciences, and emphasizes problem-solving thought. It includes social scientific thinking, legal thinking, research methods (ability to perform social research), and English literacy (English language ability). In terms of professional education, the curriculum adopts a global perspective that aims to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) and improve community welfare and includes a wide variety of subjects such as religious studies and welfare studies in addition to traditional subjects such as law, psychology, and sociology to impart a wide range of knowledge.

Educational methods that emphasize real-world experience are used, such as case studies, externship, counseling, and facilitation, to help develop interpersonal communication and problem-solving abilities.

In a “with-COVID-19” and “post-COVID-19” world, new learning tools and other forms of information and communications technology (ICT) are used to achieve efficient and effective learning and build a new learning environment that values tangible learning opportunities.