Urbanization and Crime - The Soviet Case in Cross-cultural Perspective (From Readings in Comparative Criminology, P 141-152, 1981, Louise I Shelley, ed. - See NCJ-76431)

• NCJ Number: 76434
• Author(s): L I Shelley
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The relationship between urbanization and nonpolitical forms of crime in the Soviet Union is analyzed and compared to trends in other countries.

Abstract

The article is based on works of Soviet scholars who have access to selective crime statistics and offender populations. These studies were published in journals available to the general public as well as in classified materials. The readings were supplemented by interviews with Soviet scholars. The Soviet Union shares the increased crime problems experienced by other countries undergoing a process of rapid urbanization. However, the Soviet Union has redistributed its urban crime problems away from its major cities and avoided some of the extreme negative consequences of rural population influx into urban areas typical of developing countries. Soviet population policies, implemented through the internal passport and registration system, have shifted urban crime to the medium-sized cities that cannot select their resident population. The Soviet Union, while still demonstrating a strong association between urbanization and crime, has shown that the provision of housing and employment to urban immigrants helps alleviate many of the worst criminological consequences of urbanization. The Soviet case strongly suggests that the affirmation of social and family ties is necessary to achieve a reduction of criminality among rural migrants to urban areas. (Author abstract modified)