ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a general introduction to crime and governance in Hong Kong. It provides an overview regarding crime trends in Hong Kong, as well as its political and cultural context. The chapter begins by outlining selected contemporary crime trends and positioning Hong Kong next to comparable global cities. This is followed by a discussion of the political and cultural context of Hong Kong, with particular emphasis on questions of state-citizen relations and governmental legitimacy. The chapter highlights the governing mentality and structure of the Hong Kong government under colonial and post-colonial periods. It explores the thesis in this book that the form that governmental responses and projects take is penal elitist in nature. The chapter relates this paradigm of governance in this book to various responses to youth crime. It outlines the various sociopolitical and cultural dimensions of Hong Kongs governing mentality during its colonial era and the present day.
