NCJ Number
79879
Journal
Tijdschrift voor criminologie Volume: 22 Dated: (January/February 1980) Pages: 36-44
Date Published
1980
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Current trends of thought in the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic, Poland, and Yugoslavia on causes of criminality in socialist societies are reviewed.
Abstract
Surprisingly, criminological theories elaborated by the four countries are quite diversified and not monolithic. While criminological theories of the German Democratic Republic closely resemble those of the Soviet Union, criminologists in Poland and Yugoslavia have advanced concepts which differ significantly from those of the other two countries. Soviet criminology assumes that man is perfectible on earth and is basically a social being. On the basis of these assumptions, three different approaches to criminality have developed in the Soviet Union: the social, the sociopsychological, and the sociobiological. The social approach, which concentrates on social factors that can be modified, is the dominant view of criminality. The major proponent of the sociopsychological approach, Sakharov, attempts to develop a theory balancing social and personal factors, while the sociobiological approach as represented by I. Noi argues that negative social factors influence both man's moral qualities and his biological structure. Both Soviet and East German scholars argue that criminality is alien to the nature of socialism. The East Germans, in particular, feel that crime is a social phenomenon and that biological explanations of criminality should be rejected. Criminology in Poland has a longer tradition than in the other countries, but research is heavily empirically oriented. The Polish criminolgist Lernell suggests that the criminogenic factor of criminality consists in individuals' perception of their own inequality and in their striving to eliminate inequality. Polish scholars in general emphasize the idea that socialism creates incomparably better conditions for the prevention and total elimination of crime. The main difference between the position taken by Yugoslav criminologists and the position of the majority of scholars from other socialist countries is the Yugoslav view that criminality is not a phenonmenon alien to socialism. In fact, criminality is governed by the social laws of the dynamics of socialism. In the author's view, a struggle among different orientations is likely to continue. Notes are supplied.