NCJ Number
102666
Date Published
1986
Length
178 pages
Annotation
This book examines the criminal patterns of Russian immigrants who have come to the United States since 1973, comparing the attitudes and behaviors of these urban, industrialized immigrants with preceding immigrants whose origins were primarily peasant.
Abstract
A discussion of crime in the Soviet Union argues that daily activities on all levels of Soviet society are conducted amidst secrecy, illegality, and theft. The book explores the meaning of crime to the Soviet citizen, contrasting American and Russian understandings of bureaucratic situations as they relate to crime. Following an overview of theories relating the immigrant to crime and the ghetto, the author presents an ethnographic study of the new Russian population in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn, N.Y. An analysis of their attitudes reveals that these Russians see American law-enforcement agencies as nonthreatening and ineffective and do not understand the differing legal jurisdictions of governmental agencies. Judged against the harsh Soviet system, the immigrants see U.S. bureaucratic agencies as easily manipulated and deceived, even though they have great difficulty understanding that Americans do not need personal identification papers. The book categorizes Russian immigrants as either 'survivors' or 'connivers' and contends that their criminal behavior differs from other previous peasant migrations. Charts, footnotes, and index.