NCJ Number
113340
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: (1987) Pages: 91-100
Date Published
1987
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The German Democratic Republic's (GDR's) adherence to Marxist criminology, i.e., that criminality is created by capitalist class structure and will disappear under communism, presents problems since criminality in the GDR persists under communism, albeit at a relatively low rate.
Abstract
Factors in the GDR's low crime rate may be a low level of urbanization and traffic density, the state's insistence upon uniform social values and behaviors, and the informal social control of collectives. Of the criminality that exists in the GDR, most is manifested by juveniles. Patterns of criminality are similar in the GDR and in West Germany. Rather than revise criminological theory in the face of persistent criminality, GDR officials blame criminality on offenders' psychological bondage to the capitalist past and failure to have developed a socialist consciousness. Rather than causing a revision of criminology, the persistence of criminality prompts an even greater effort to inject youth with a socialist consciousness. Those who engage in criminal behavior are thus viewed as serious enemies of the communist ideology and as deviants who threaten to undermine a basic tenet of state ideology. 20 references.