Czechoslovakia (From International Handbook of Contemporary Developments in Criminology, Volume 2, P 143-161, 1983, Elmer H Johnson, ed. See NCJ-91322)

• NCJ Number: 91328
• Author(s): O Suchy; J Nezkusil
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Greenwood Publishing Group
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This examination of Czechoslovakian criminology explores the subject matter of criminology, the methods of socialist criminology, the scientific foundations of criminology, the education of criminologists, crime patterns, and crime prevention.

Abstract

Czechoslovakian criminology recognizes that the prognosis of the development of mass criminality must be addressed in planning to counter crime. There is a prognosis of the antisocial behavior of persons so that appropriate measures can be taken to deal with particular perpetrators. There is excessive optimism that the creation of the structure of the socialist state will automatically eliminate criminality. This produces an emphasis on crime prevention. The statistical and sociological methods of Czechoslovakian criminology are oriented toward research into large-scale social phenomena, into the sources of criminality external to the individual offender, and into the conflicts generated by the social contradictions. In Czechoslovakia, criminology is recognized as an independent science, although there is a close association between criminology and the science on the penal policy of the socialist state. The Criminological Institute, which is attached to the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic, is the central institutional base of criminology, with its research fully directed toward the causes and prevention of criminality. Criminology is taught by law faculties, being presented mostly within the framework of judicial specialization. Five notes and seven bibliographic listings are provided.