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Portugal Incidence of Crime
In general the Portuguese are law-abiding people who
respect
the virtues of honesty. In addition, social discontent has
been
kept low by emigration, which served traditionally as a
release
for social pressures in both rural and urban areas.
Decolonization in Africa, however, brought over 800,000
unemployed refugees to Portugal, some of whom became
involved in
crime. Some other young adults and discharged soldiers,
unemployed and unable to emigrate, turned to crime.
Nevertheless,
statistics on the commission of crime between 1984 and
1988
showed an actual reduction in most categories. Drug
offenses,
however, increased from 1,154 to 1,782. Portugal was an
important
transshipment point for narcotics because of its
geographic
position near the North African coast and on the air
routes
between South America and Western Europe. Indigenous drug
use and
production were not, however, considered to be major
problems.
Violent crimes, though not unknown in Portugal, were
rare.
Murders were generally crimes of passion and only
infrequently
associated with robbery. Premeditated homicide was
punishable by
a prison sentence of from sixteen to twenty years,
although
mitigating circumstances often led to reduced terms. In
1988, out
of a total of 513 homicide arrests, 205 were for negligent
homicide; 331 of the arrested received prison terms.
Larceny was by far the most common form of crime. In
1988
over 41,000 thefts of all kinds were recorded. They
included
12,800 thefts under aggravated circumstances, 4,000 armed
or
violent thefts, 7,400 cases of breaking and entering, and
5,300
automobile thefts. In 1988 nearly 4,000 cases of fraud and
more
than 17,000 cases involving bad checks were reported,
although
few of the latter resulted in court trials. There were 121
rapes
and 165 other sexual offenses. A total of 10,800 persons
were
tried for crimes against the person, although only 73 of
these
were classified as serious attacks.
Data as of January 1993
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