STUDY OF CRIME IN MARXIST COUNTRIES - NOTES ON METHOD FOR OUTSIDERS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CUBA (FROM CRIME AND DEVIANCE, P 68-99, 1980, BY GRAEME R NEWMAN - SEE NCJ-71075)

• NCJ Number: 69335
• Author(s): L P SALAS
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 32 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THIS ARTICLE ANALYZES THE PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED WHEN CONDUCTING RESEARCH ON CRIME IN MARXIST COUNTRIES AND DISCUSSES THE DIFFICULTIES IN CONDUCTING FIELD RESEARCH ON CRIME IN CUBA.

Abstract

RESEARCH RESTRICTIONS ARE COMMON TO ALL SOCIALIST COUNTRIES. PERSONS TO BE INTERVIEWED ARE SELECTED BY THE GOVERNMENT, BUREAUCRATIC INEFFICIENCY IS RAMPANT, AND RESEARCH IS LOOKED UPON WITH SUSPICION. THE RESEARCHER IS THUS COMPELLED TO RELY MAINLY ON SECONDARY DATA, MUCH OF WHICH IS UNAVAILABLE OR DIFFICULT TO LOCATE. UNLIKE THE UNITED STATES, SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA DO NOT APPEAR IN SPECIALIZED JOURNALS AND REPORTS, ARE UNSOPHISTICATED, IF COLLECTED AT ALL, AND ARE OFTEN UNAVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC. IN EXAMINING CUBAN STATISTICAL SOURCES, THE RESEARCHER WILL FIND THEM PRIMITIVE AND LACKING TRADITIONALLY CRUCIAL VARIABLES. STATISTICAL REPORTS ARE OFTEN CLOTHED IN THE IDEOLOGICAL BIASES OF THE REPORTING SOCIALIST STATE. HOMICIDE STATISTICS CONTRADICT, AND SOME ARE DELIBERATE MISREPRESENTATIONS. THERE ARE NO UNIVERSAL LEGAL DEFINITIONS FOR CRIMES, BECAUSE THERE ARE VAST DIFFERENCES IN STATUTORY CODES. ARREST RATES, FOR EXAMPLE, MAY REPRESENT SHIFTS IN THE LEVEL OF ENFORCEMENT OR DEFINITIONAL MODIFICATIONS RATHER THAN INCREASED CRIMINALITY. CRIMINAL STATISTICS ARE OFTEN PUT TO POLITICAL USE TO REINFORCE NEGATIVE IMPRESSIONS OF THE CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM AND TO DOWNGRADE PROBLEMS OF RISING CRIME IN THE SOCIALIST COUNTRY. STATISTICAL SOURCES OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO THE CRIMINOLOGIST ARE SOCIOLOGICAL STUDIES AND SURVEYS CONDUCTED BY BOTH THE SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT AND OUTSIDERS WHICH ARE INVALUABLE IN MAKING DETERMINATIONS OF DEVIANCE AND CRIME. OTHER USEFUL RESEARCH SOURCES ARE ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES, CONTENT ANALYSIS, AND LITERARY AND HISTORICAL SOURCES. IN CONCLUSION, RESEARCHERS SHOULD CONTACT OTHERS DOING SIMILAR RESEARCH; INTERPRET STATISTICAL INFORMATION IN THE LIGHT OF QUALITATIVE AND INTERPRETATIVE DATA; AND RECOGNIZE THAT DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS ARE SEEN AS POLITICAL ISSUES IN SOCIALIST COUNTRIES. NOTES AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED.