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Romania Crime
The PCR asserted that the socioeconomic change wrought
under
communist rule reduced crime committed against individuals
and
property. According to the PCR, the socialist system
eliminated the
root cause of lawlessness--economic inequality--and
therefore crime
was disappearing. Articles in the Romanian press, however,
indicated that crime remained a significant, if not
growing,
problem in 1989. The phenomenon of economic crime was the
byproduct of Romania's inefficient, overly centralized
economy.
Unrealistic prices and exchange rates led to widespread
corruption,
shortages, a black market, speculation, and hoarding.
Although the
1978 Penal Code abolished the use of capital punishment
against
those convicted of economic crimes such as embezzlement or
fraud,
it stipulated heavy fines and criminal penalties,
including a twoyear prison term, for failure to conserve resources in
socialist
industrial and agricultural enterprises. In 1987 courts
sentenced
300 citizens for economic crimes or the "illegal
acquisition of
wealth" and confiscated goods worth 47,000,000 lei (for
value of
the
leu--see Glossary).
There were indications that
apprehension of
economic "criminals" was difficult and that a
prosecutorial backlog
of such cases existed in 1989.
After the 1988 amnesty, the minister of justice
reported that
there were 7,500 citizens in prison. There had been 75,000
citizens
in jail prior to the amnesty. Although Romania released
few
statistics on crime, press reports indicated that juvenile
crime
was a particular problem. In 1981 the UTC revealed that
25,000
youths under the age of twenty-one had been convicted of
various
offenses.
Data as of July 1989
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