A society s response to youth crime reveals much about its broader cultural values, social circumstances, and political affairs. This book examines reactions and policy responses to youth delinquency and crime in Hong Kong during its colonial and post-colonial periods, and in doing so, underscores the history of Hong Kong itself and its present-day circumstances.

Exploring how officials have responded to youth crime in Hong Kong over time, this book tracks the emergence of a "penal elitist "mode of governance, highlighting concerns not only about young people s behavior but the need for...