Like China, there are several countries in South America and Africa on the brink of great economic expansion and development. Friday also contends that learning more about the crime situation in China could have direct benefits to crime prevention in the United States. We've been looking so closely at our own situation for so long. Criminologists have used the birth cohort method in studies in the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and other developed countries. In the U.S., researchers have found that about 6 percent of the population accounts for about 50 percent of reported crime.
Studies also indicate that juvenile delinquency has common roots in the West.
It's unclear if the same factors apply elsewhere in the world. Friday has been a professor at UNC Charlotte for eight years. Before coming to Charlotte, he was the director of criminal justice at the University of Western Michigan. He has been a Fulbright Professor in Sweden, Germany, England and Greece.