Research Proposal (2): Qualitative orientation
Proposal; Dept. of Sociology, HKU.
(I) Proposed Title
(II) Introduction
(III) Brief Literature Review
Environmental Variables and Crime
Rational Choice
Crime Prevention Through Environment Design (CPTED)
(IV) Methodology
Participant Observation
Individual Interviews
Community Observation
Analysis of Official/Unofficial Statistic
(V) Proposed Research Time-Table
(VI) References
(I) Proposed Title
The Relationship between Juvenile Delinquency
and Environmental Variables in New Town, Tuen Mun
(II) Introduction
The problem of juvenile delinquency in Tuen Mun's new town' has become more and
more alarming in recent years. According to recent police statistics, the figure
of 662 recorded juvenile arrests in Tuen Mun was the highest among all police d
istricts in the territory in the first half of 1996. Such figures raise public c
oncern about the occurrence of juvenile delinquency in the context of planned ho
using in the new towns. A number of questions arise, such as: " Why does Tuen Mu
n suffer more Juvenile Delinquency than other places? " ; " Is the environment o
f Tuen Mun more favorable for Juvenile Delinquency than other places? " and " Ho
w far do the environmental features influence the chances of delinquency occurri
ng? ". Hence, the following hypothesis will be examined in my proposed study:
" The environment of Tuen Mun's new town invites and provides more opportunities
for juveniles to commit delinquency than other new towns and urban areas of HK.
"
I will compare juvenile delinquency in Tuen Mun's new town with two other areas
in order to make the study more interesting. The first area, also a new town, is
Tseung Kwan O, which has similar environmental features to Tuen Mun. The second
area, Kowloon City, is an urban district and has different characteristics to T
uen Mun.
I will employ the "environmental perspective" in my study in order to attempt to
explain the nature of juvenile delinquency. In addition, the related "situation
al crime prevention" approach which focuses on the "rational choice" of offender
s will also be critically used to supplement an understanding of the factors inv
olved in juvenile delinquency.
The following proposal presents the "What" and "How" of my study. Using the "env
ironmental" approach to study juvenile delinquency is a novel attempt in Hong Ko
ng; therefore, I will rely on the ideas and methods developed in the west by, fo
r example, Newman(1972), the Brantingham(1990) and Clarke and Felson(1993).
(III) Brief Literature Review
Environmental Variables and Crime
The work of the pre-world war II Chicago researchers Shaw and Mcay made a major
contribution to criminology by developing the "Ecological" approach to the under
standing of the interaction between society and environment in crime causation.
They theorized about social relations, urban socia
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论文题目：
Research Proposal (2): Qualitative orientation 
