Abstract
Young Cambodians are often the victims of human rights abuses due to their interactions with the criminal justice system. This paper is based on the outcomes of a 6-month research project which gained the perceptions of young male Cambodians who reported that violence within the criminal justice system is normalised and perpetrated by police and prison authorities. The research documented the physical and psychological effects of institutional violence encountered by young people such as problems in reintegrating back to their families and communities. The paper concludes with a number of suggestions regarding the introduction of a juvenile justice system, increased training of police and the introduction of human rights as part of the national school curriculum.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, B. (2015). 30 years of Hun Sen: violence, repression and corruption in Cambodia. Human Rights Watch Report: 1-67.
Archer, D., & Garner, R. (1976). Violent acts and violent times: a comparative approach to postwar homicide rates. American Sociological Review, 41, 937–963.
Broadhurst, R. (2002). Lethal violence, crime and state formation in Cambodia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 35, 1–26.
Brown, B., & Benedict, W. (2002). Perceptions of the police: past findings, methodological issues, conceptual issues and policy implications. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 25, 543–580.
Colic-Peisker, V., & Tilbury, F. (2008). “Being black in Australia: a case study of intergroup relations. Race and Class, 49(4), 38–56.
Coventry, G., Dawes, G., Moston, D., & Palmer, D. (2010). Sudanese refugees’ experiences with the Queensland criminal justice system. Canberra: Report to the Criminology Research Council, Australian Institute Criminology.
Cunneen, C., & White, R. (2003). Juvenile justice: youth crime in Australia. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Cunneen, C., Robb, T. (1987). Criminal justice in north-west NSW. NSW Bureau of crime Statistics and research. Sydney.
Dawes, G., & Hil, R. (2000). The thin white line: juvenile crime racialised narrative and vigilantism—a north Queensland study. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 11(3), 33–34.
Edwards, A. (1988). Regulation and repression. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Foucault, M. (1978). About the concept of the dangerous individual in 19 century legal psychiatry. Trans. By Alain baudot & Jane Couchman. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 1, 1–18.
Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison (Trans. By Alan Sheridan). New York: Vintage Books.
Garland, D. (1990). Frameworks of inquiry in the sociology of punishment. British Journal of Sociology, 41, 1–15.
Garfinkel, H. (1956). Conditions of successful degradation ceremonies. American Journal of Sociology, 61, 420–424.
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. (2004). Isma: listen, national consultations on eliminating prejudice against arab and Muslim Australians. Sydney: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
Human Rights Watch (2013). They treat us like animals: mistreatment of drug users and undesirables in Cambodia’s drug detention centres. Human Rights Watch Report: 1-48.
LICADHO Report (2011). Beyond capacity 2011: a progress report on cambodia’s exploding prison population. Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Roach-Anleu, S. (1999). Deviance conformity and social control. Canberra: Longman.
UNICEF (2013). Annual Report on Cambodia. Geneva.
United Nations (1959). Declaration of the Rights of the Child. UN General Assembly, Resolution 1386. Geneva.
United Nations (2011). Report of the Committee Against Torture. New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Glenn Dawes is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. He has expertise in young people and crime and has conducted research on how Indigenous youth experience the process of reintegration when they return to their communities post-detention. He has also conducted research into young people and driving culture, graffiti art and educational disadvantage.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dawes, G. Young Cambodians as Victims of Institutional Violence in the Criminal Justice System. Asian Criminology 11, 33–46 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-015-9219-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-015-9219-9