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Europe, Central Eastern

The transition to a democratic market society during the 1990s brought major political, economic and social transformations to Central Eastern Europe. One of the many social consequences of the collapse of Soviet-style communism in the nations of this region (Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Yugoslavia) is a change in both the type and amount of reported crime. Although information about crime and justice in Central Eastern Europe was scarce prior to 1989, the liberalization of the countries in this region has allowed public access to information about these issues.

Crime under State Socialism

For more than forty years, from the end of World War II until 1989, the countries of Central Eastern Europe were ruled by Soviet-style communism (state socialism), which controlled all aspects of life, including politics, business, religion, education, and civil society. Based on Marxist-Leninist ideology, the goal of state socialism was to create a classless society, thereby eliminating social inequality. To this end, the economy was a command economy with planned production and distribution, the abolition of private property, full employment for all adults, and extensive social welfare benefits to ensure the equal distribution of wealth and property. Under the single-party political structure, the Communist Party dictated economic development and maintained tight control over citizens through limited mobility, censorship, public persecution of dissenters, and the brute force of the militarized police.

Crime does not exist in a utopian communist society; however, it did exist in Central Eastern Europe under state socialism. Such crime was explained as a “remnant of capitalism” that would dissipate when state socialism became true communism (that is, a society without classes or private property). According to communist ideology, “crime and conflict, which are seen as resulting from the demoralizing conditions of the class society based on private property, will vanish, thereby making superfluous any permanent apparatus of coercion in the form of the army, police and corrections” (Los 1988: 1). In reality, communism not only failed to eliminate crime but also created new forms specific to the legal conditions of the existing socialist order, including hooliganism (violating public order or disrespecting society), parasitism (not working or contributing equally to economic life), theft against socialist property (typically, workplace theft), and crimes against the centralized distribution of goods (hoarding). Additionally, state socialist countries were plagued with the more common crimes of juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, drug abuse, and corruption. Conventional street crimes, such as burglary, homicide, rape, and assault also existed in socialist countries, but it is difficult to measure their prevalence because of the lack of reliable data. There is considerable evidence, however, to suggest that rates of conventional crimes were lower in Central Eastern Europe during state socialism than in capitalist countries.

Crime and Social Change in the Post-Socialist Transition

In 1989, the era of Soviet-style communism came to an end in Central Eastern Europe, followed shortly thereafter by the breakup of the Soviet Union itself. Weak economic performance, low standards of living, a growing underground civil society, widespread corruption, and international pressure together undermined the authoritarian regimes of these countries and led to relatively peaceful transitions of power. Within a few months, more than forty years of communist rule gave way to the public will. For the next decade, the countries of Central Eastern Europe became “transition societies,” simultaneously overhauling their political, economic, legal, and social structures. Although each nation followed its own reform path, and there was considerable debate as to the direction of reform, the general goal was to replace state socialism with some form of democratic capitalism. The single-party rule of the Communist Party was replaced by open multiparty elections; the command economy was replaced by a market economy based on supply and demand; property was once again privatized; and the social sphere was liberalized through freedom of speech, religion, press, and association. As a result of the opening of national borders, the liberalization of trade, and the privatization of the media, citizens of Central Eastern Europe were exposed to the Western material and cultural life from which they had been shielded for decades.

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