Comparative criminology in south-eastern Europe (developments and the future challenges)

1. Comparative criminology in south-eastern Europe(developments and the future challenges) Gorazd Meško Faculty of Criminal justice and security University of Maribor, Slovenia

2. A starting point - About 20 years ago Joutsen (1995): The problems of the criminal justice system in Central and Eastern Europe - beliefs that crime pays, police are not successful in crime fighting, the leniency of judges, unprocessed cases, problems of formal social control, huge turnover in the police forces, problems with training… …many challenges. • Ewald & Nowlin (1995) • Western and former socialist criminology – differences. • How to read former socialist criminology? Almost impossible. • Denial and adaptation vs reform and change. Mainly denial of real problems and causes. • Who is a teacher and who is a pupil? Can we learn anything from each other? Are we willing to do so? • Knowledge is power – epistemological paradigm of the East was criticised and blamed to be miles from Western international professional standards. • Almost no empirical research. Questionable quality. • Cultural and ideological gap between the West and the East • Bad capitalism vs good socialism

3. GEO-POLITICAL & ECONOMIC CONTEXT • South-eastern Europe and narrowly the Balkan – Western Balkans (Albania + former Yugoslavia – EU countries). Different definitions: geographic, political, etc. • The term “Balkanisation” is also used for explaining a geopolitical situation on other continents meaning fragmentation, unpredictability, and hostility between the countries. • 1991 – collapse of Yugoslavia - military conflicts - and uneasiness in the neighbouring countries. • Since the end of the war two decades ago – a complex socio-economic and political situation. International interventions and support. • The lowest GDP per capita countries in Europe (WB, 2018). • Poor but low levels of reported crime in the countries.

4. INDICATORS IN SELECTED INTERNATIONAL REPORTS • How the region is presented in different studies • Ten poorest countries in Europe (World Bank, 2017) (9 out of 10 countries in the region of SE Europe). • Global peace index (2018) – lowest scores in Europe, especially regarding ongoing domestic/international conflicts – Kosovo, Greece, FYROM & B&H; low societal safety – Albania, FYROM, Montenegro, B&H, Kosovo). • Fragile state index: Risk factors – (RD) refugees and internally displaced people, (FE) Factionalised elites, (GG) Group grievance, (EC) Economic decline/poverty, (HF) human flight – brain drain, High need for external intervention (EI) (military, police, humanitarian, economic). • UNDP – indicators that require action - investments in the Balkan countries (e. g. empowerment of state institutions, development of local democracy, empowerment of governments);UNICEF – protection of children; OSCE – Organization for security and cooperation in Europe (awareness raising programmes, education), etc. Source: Global Peace Index Report (2018)

5. Focus of social policies? • Family (prevention of domestic violence and juvenile delinquency). • Health (quality of public health services). • Education (quality of education, good and bad universities - AcademLink). • Community (social cohesion, social capital, group grievance). • Economy (unemployment rate, acceptance of informal economy, organised crime and corruption). • Religion (possible conflicts between religious groups). • Politics (bad reputation of politicians, almost communication with epistemological communities • Media (transfer of values – e.g. Pink TV – the Jackass model, sensationalistic depicting of social reality, investigative journalism). • External factors (interventions, pressures, EU accession requirements).

6. TRADITIONAL Balkan crime problems • The Balkan axis/route • smuggling drugs (between Asia and Europe), • smuggling of illicit (e.g. stolen cars) and licit goods (informal/grey economy) and migrants, • trafficking in human beings and arms.

7. Criminology and criminological tradition • Criminology (also Victimology, Penology, Crime control policy, Social control – informal & formal). • Legal perspectives (criminal law, criminal procedure and sociology of law/criminology). • Security perspectives (political science/criminology as a security/crime science). • Police studies and criminal investigation perspectives. • Behavioral perspectives (“defectology” – a positivist school/ conduct disorder studies, social education, social work). • Sociology of deviance.

8. CONTRIBUTIONS TO EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINOLOGY • Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe (international biennial conferences since 1996/peer reviewed collections of papers) – topics covered: comparing knowledge and experiences with the West; organizational, managerial an human resource aspects; ethics, integrity and human rights; deviance, violence and victimization; dilemmas of contemporary criminal justice; past, present and futures of policing; social control – practice and research; unconventional deviance; criminal justice research; professionalism, trust and legitimacy; safety/security and social control in local communities; between common sense and evidence-based policy-making. • Regional comparative projects - published in Journal of CJS (criminology in SE Europe – 2008; policing – 2009; private security – 2009; rehabilitation of prisoners – 2010; legitimacy in CJ – 2012; fear of crime - 2012; crime in SE Europe – 2013; juvenile delinquency/violence – 2013; cyber crime - 2014; trust, legitimacy and cooperation with the police - 2014; plural policing – 2016). • Balkan criminology network conferences (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) (volumes on different topics – national reports on the state of the art in different fields of criminological research), work in progress. • International conferences on victimology (VDS). • EU and international research projects (e.g. CRIMPREV – 2006-2009; ISRD, etc.).

9. Criminology Journals • Revija za kriminalistiko in kriminologijo – Journal of Criminal Investigation and Criminology (since 1950/1959) (one issue a year in English), (SLO). • Revija za kriminologiju i krivično pravo – Journal of criminology and criminal law (since 1962). (SRB). • Policija i sigurnost – Police and Safety/Security (since 1992), (CRO). • Temida – Časopis o viktimizaciji, ljudskim pravima i rodu - Journal on victimization, human rights and gender (since 1998), (SRB). • Varstvoslovje - Journal of Criminal Justice and Security (since 1999) (2 issues a year in English), (SLO). • Kriminalističke teme – Criminal justice issues – Journal of criminal justice, criminology and security studies (since 2010), (B&H). • Crimen – časopis za krivičnopravne nauke – Journal for criminal justice (since 2010), (SRB).

10. International books by the authors from the region 2011 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 2014 • Work in progress • BC books on prisons and punishment, victims and victim protection, violence… • Other books: Legitimacy in prisons; Water, governance and crime…

11. Contributions to European and international JOURNALS • European journal of criminology • Country reports: Greece, Slovenia, Croatia. • Journal articles on human trafficking in Serbia, policing in Slovenia, urban security management in capitals of the former Yugoslav republics, individualisation of punishment, “happy making” criminology, probation skills, ICTY in B&H, women in prisons and prison rules for women, test of SAT, self-legitimacy of prison staff. • Other international criminology journals (a small number of authors covering a variety of topics) • European journal of crime policy and research, European journal of crime, criminal law and criminal justice, European journal of probation, British journal of criminology, MonatsschriftfürKriminologie und Strafrechtsreform, Kriminalistik,Déviance et Société, Journal of criminal justice, Crime, law and social change, Psychology, crime and law, International review of victimology, International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, Prison Journal, Policing – an international journal of police strategies and management, Policing and society, Policing – a journal of policy and practice, etc.

12. Ewald & Nowlin revisited in 2018 • Western and former socialist criminology – such division does not exist any more • Denial and adaptation - Reform and change are a part of our everyday life – continuing development • Who is a teacher and who is a pupil? – Mutual exchange of ideas... • Knowledge is power – epistemological paradigm of the East was discredited… - not anymore • Miles from (Western) international professional standards – trying to catch up – ‘western standards’ are often an unwritten rule (sometimes too big expectations about standards – sometimes a language problem only) • Low quality of empirical research, mainly literature review/followed by reflection – increasing quality of research – a slow progress (new PhD programmes) • But still – original some voices were heard/read – more and more original voices and empirical tests of western theories as well as eastern ideas • Cultural and ideological gap between the West and the East – globalization – diminished gap... • Bad capitalism vs good socialism – capitalism only... • Future – cooperation, exchange of ideas, global village • University – universal knowledge… contribution to global knowledge (but low policy-making impact) … catching up…

13. On comparative criminology – benefits & Obstacles • Benefits: • Development of theory and policy implications (theory testing, theory development). • Development of high-quality international research networks. • Discussions with policy-makers and practitioners (comparisons, good practice). • Production of unbiased knowledge for policy discussions, development of further research. • Obstacles: • Adequate funding (quality of research proposals, researcher background, networks - quality of work and trust, governments – embarrassment with research findings - whose side are you on?, governments want to have control over research (gatekeepers, “we’ll collect the data for you”…), foreign researchers – ”intruders”. • Language (native researchers, translators). • Reliability and validity of comparative data (sometimes questionable). • Publishing (finding a proper journal, rejections, etc.).

14. Concluding remarksPromotion of comparative criminology and criminal justice • ESC-EJC (WG on comparative criminology, WG on criminology curricula, WG early career researchers, etc.) and a special issue on comparative criminology 2015 – strongly recommended! • Balkan criminology network (publications and summer courses on comparative criminology). • CJS in C&E Europe (12th conference in September 2018). • Universities – encouraging comparative criminology, CJ and policy-making courses), development of joint programmes, exchange of lecturers and students (Erasmus and other schemes). • Professional organisations and NGOs (activities of NGOs such as VSS, CPRC and others).

15. Thank you for your attention!