A cultural study of the low crime rate in Japan

This article attempts to explain the differences between Japanese and Weste rn legal cultures in order to provide a clue to the significant gap between the crime rates in Japan and the West. In Japan, the locality-based group formation causes both a sense of security and an infinite number of repress ive rules; these two elements are bound together to produce high self-contr ol which acts as a strong force restraining people from committing crime. T his is in contrast to the Western world 's emphasis on the personal attribu te-based group formation, the limited and permissive nature of rules, and t he relative freedom of action-all of which contribute to weakening the crim e prevention mechanism and stressing the role of punishment rather than pre vention.