ABSTRACT
In the late 1990s, following the burst of the bubble economy, Japan was struck by the ‹nancial crisis of 1997, which is comparable to the current grovel ‹nancial crisis, and Japan’s economy mired in long recession. During the same period, Japan faced a sharp increase in crime; the number of recorded penal code crime reached a new postwar high for seven consecutive years until 2002. Facing the rise of crime, the Japanese government kicked o€ a comprehensive crime reduction campaign, including a national action plan for crime reduction, in 2003, which was named the Action Plan to Create a Crime-Resistant Society (APCCS).
