On March 28, a new crime prevention center aimed at college students in Nanjing, capital city of southeast China’s Jiangsu Province, was set up by Puko District Procuratorate. Nanjing University, and Southeast University together with eight other universities in Nanjing are participating in the scheme.
The leaders of the universities have warmly welcomed the move. It has been reported that the center is the first of its kind dedicated to crime prevention within the university community.
The practice up to now has been for the university authorities to expel any students found in breach of campus regulations. The newly established center would encourage universities to take a more lenient view of students who had committed only minor infringements.
According to official information, the new College Student Crime Prevention Center has been sponsored by Pukou District Procuratorate and jointly supported by police, justice and government authorities as well as the universities themselves and the communities they serve. The unit will direct its efforts towards reducing opportunities for criminal behavior through the development and implementation of educational programs and crime prevention activities.
Special emphasis will be placed on dealing with criminal activities undertaken by college students and on sharing good practice in reducing crime on campus.
The center will have the opportunity to select certain high profile cases to be tried in full view of the student body by a court convened directly on the campus.
The eventual goal is to find better ways to deal with undergraduate crime and rehabilitate the offenders.
It has been reported that two deputies to the Local District People’s Congress first proposed the initiative in January 2002. They made representations to the Puko District Procuratorate expressing their concern at the increasing trend towards undergraduate crime.
The Procuratorate responded by conducting a special investigation into crime by college students. The research showed cases involving undergraduates up a staggering 300 percent in 2001 compared with 2000. And what’s more there was a further 120 percent increase in 2002.
Zheng Kan, director of Pulou District Procuratorate sees the role of the new College Student Crime Prevention Center as helping to ensure that the university environment can be made as safe and free from crime as possible. It will achieve this through raising awareness of the problems and promoting individual responsibility in reducing opportunities for the criminal.
(China.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong, April 8, 2003)
