Rising crime rates amidst transformations in Eastern Europe

Socio‐political transition and societal response

Bibliographic Data

ID7818424
AuthorsWojciech Cebulak (Oklahoma State University, corresponding author)
Year1996
Volume20
Issue1
Pages77-82
Publication date1996-03-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0192-4036 • E-ISSN: 2157-6475
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01924036.1996.9678563
OpenAlexW2045288600
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited2

Unprecedented and dramatic increases in crime rates in countries of Eastern Europe (data are available to document the increases for Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and many of the former Soviet Republics) raise the issue of whether the political and social transformations that have been taking place in Eastern Europe must inevitably lead to social disruption and resulting crime increases. Since the nature of the phenomenon is historically unique (there has never been a similar revolutionary transition from socialism to capitalism), a new, unconventional, and innovative theoretical approach is needed to account for the phenomena being discussed here. Assuming that the transformations can be legitimately subsumed under the concept of ‘‘socio‐political process,’’ the purpose of the paper is to identify some basic and inherent characteristic features of the causal mechanism at work, specifically —?''How do the dynamics of the Eastern European socio‐political process explain the rising crime rates?'’ (''What causal factors inherent in the dynamics are responsible for the crime rises?'') Another issue to be examined is that because of the unprecedented nature of the process being talked about here, a different dimension of the socio‐political process theory must be realized and examined. The paper will be based on three hypotheses: 1. The Eastern European transformations imply a need for a new component of the socio‐political process theory (transition from socialism to capitalism, not vice versa as has historically been the case).2. To the extent that crime is a product of socio‐political change, crime rates are bound to increase much more during a socialism‐to‐capitalism transition rather than during a capitalism‐to‐socialism transition.3. Some inherent traits of socialism‐to‐capitalism transitions explain why crime rates increase much more during those transitions than during capitalism‐to‐socialism ones

Capitalism · Communism · Czech · Economic system · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Socialism · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub