Cross-border organized crimes committed by mainland Chinese before and after reunification of Hong Kong

Abstract

Back in the 1980s, Hong Kong experienced a sharp increase in violent crime, such as armed robberies and kidnaps, involving the use of heavy firearms and ammunition, perceived to be committed by the professional criminals from mainland China. This situation created fear and panic regarding the safety of society casting doubt on the capability of the government to maintain law and order, and protect its citizens. The situation persisted into the 1990s. After the return of sovereignty to China in 1997, Hong Kong in the 2000s and up to the 2010s claimed itself to be one of the safest cities in the world due to achievements in the criminal justice system and crime rates. After a literature review on how crimes and criminals may be affected as a result of the social, economic, and political changes both in Hong Kong and China, this paper aims to present how changes occurred with the aids of criminological theories ‘Situational Crime Prevention’ and ‘Rational Choice Theory’, and the process of ‘Mainlandization’ to explain the responses of the criminals from mainland China and Hong Kong, also with a view to explaining how crimes are displaced between the two places amid these vast situational changes in these few decades. This paper includes case studies on serious and organized crime in the nature of robbery, kidnap, deception, human smuggling, and illegal migration, involving criminals from mainland China and Hong Kong. These types of crimes are regarded as the day-to-day events that affect Hong Kong. These case studies outline and help us understand how criminals and crimes changed and developed in the two places during these few decades. It is hoped that the paper is able to identify and reveal the factors underlying the situational change and provide insights, where possible or appropriate, to the law enforcement agencies in combating crimes and form a base for future academic investigation of the crime situation in Hong Kong.