Corruption as Presented in the Lithuanian Internet Media

The article focuses on content analysis of corruption-related publications released by Lithuanian Internet media. The authors present findings from structural and semantic analysis of the online publications on corruption issues that appeared during 2015 via two influential Internet portals: DELFI.lt and Lrytas.lt. These findings are interpreted in the context of official statistical data surrounding anti-corruption activity in the country and in light of results from corruption‑related diagnostic surveys. The analysis reveals a tendency toward ‘virtual criminalisation’ of corruption in the Internet-media publications examined and, a result of such a criminal-justice framing, an absence of focus on preventive and education‑oriented anti-corruption measures

Kriminologija ir valdžia

Introduction: The text introduces an issue of journal Sociologija. Mintis ir veiksmas, which contains a number of papers presented in the Baltic Criminological Conference in 2006.Įvadinis žodis: tekste pristatomas teminis žurnalo Sociologija. Mintis ir veiksmas numeris. Numeris skirtas kriminologijos problematikai ir pristato Pietų, Vidurio ir Rytų Europos kriminologų publikacijas, kurių pagrindu buvo skaitomi pranešimai 19-ajame metiniame Baltijos kriminologų seminare Vilniuje Kriminolo­gija ir valdžia 2006 m. spalio 27-28 dienomis

Kriminologinio žinojimo konstravimas: tarpdalykinių kriminologijos studijų formavimosi ir vykdymo patirtis Vilniaus universitete

Taking a social constructionists perspective, the article presents not widely known sides in the development of modern Lithuanian criminology related to the emergence, formation and development of criminological studies at Vilnius University. Since the emergence of the first criminological courses in Lithuanian academic institutions, they, as in other European continent universities, were usually taught in law faculties and schools. However, in the mid of 1990s, a unique situation occurred at Vilnius University, where sociologists and psychologists started teaching criminological courses at the Faculty of Philosophy. Later, in 1999, with the methodical help of the Faculty of Law, the teaching staff of the Faculty of Philosophy developed and implemented two-year masters programs in sociological and psychological criminology.The gained educational experience in managing and implementing interdisciplinary criminology programs at Vilnius University paved the way for introducing in 2017 new interdisciplinary bachelor study programme in criminology. On the one hand, the emergence of such studies would be impossible without long-term close and constructive collaboration between the sociologists, psychologists and lawyers of Vilnius University and, on the other, - without the active involvement of the new generation of young criminologists in the educational process. Authors emphasise, that the emergence and development of the criminology studies in Lithuania was influenced by both the developmental context of criminology at European and North American universities and the methodological and organisational support, which Lithuanian criminologists had been receiving from their colleagues from western academic institutions.Authors also present and describe the developmental process of both master and bachelor studies: they introduce the leaders, organisers and lecturers of these programs, observe their structure and inner consistency, analyse the role of interdisciplinarity in organising criminology studies. The article identifies the challenges and problems facing both the teaching and learning processes and their potential solutions, which should ensure the quality of studies, their correspondence to the state-of-art methods in criminological research and practical needs of contemporary society. Straipsnyje iš socialinio konstrukcionizmo perspektyvos pristatomas dar mažai tyrinėtas modernios Lietuvos kriminologijos istorijos aspektas – kriminologinių studijų atsiradimas, formavimasis ir vystymasis Vilniaus universitete. Lietuvoje, kaip ir kituose Europos kontinento universitetuose, kriminologija paprastai buvo dėstoma teisės fakultetuose ir mokyklose. Tačiau Vilniaus universitete praeito šimtmečio paskutinį dešimtmetį susiklostė unikali situacija, kai Filosofijos fakultete kriminologinius kursus ėmė dėstyti sociologai ir psichologai, kurie nuo 1999 m., padedant Teisės fakulteto dėstytojams, pradėjo vykdyti sociologinės ir psichologinės pakraipos kriminologijos magistro studijų programas.Vėliau sukaupta patirtis sudarė sąlygas 2017 m. atsirasti tarpdalykinėms kriminologijos bakalauro studijoms. Viena vertus, tokių studijų atsiradimas būtų neįmanomas be ilgamečio glaudaus ir konstruktyvaus bendradarbiavimo tarp Vilniaus universiteto sociologų, psichologų ir teisininkų, o kita vertus, – be aktyvaus jaunos kriminologų kartos, kurios nemaža atstovų dalis buvo minėtų magistro kriminologinių studijų absolventai, įsitraukimo į šį studijų organizavimo procesą. Straipsnyje pažymima, kad kriminologijos studijų atsiradimui ir formavimuisi didelę įtaką darė tiek bendros kriminologijos vystymosi tendencijos Europos ir Šiaurės Amerikos universitetuose, tiek konkreti Vakarų Europos akademinių institucijų bei jų atstovų metodinė pagalba ir organizacinė parama.Straipsnio autoriai taip pat pristato ir detaliai aprašo tiek magistro, tiek bakalauro studijų kūrimo proceso eigą: įvardijami šių programų iniciatoriai ir rėmėjai, aptariama studijų programų sandara, analizuojama tarpdalykinė diegiamo kriminologinio žinojimo specifika bei apibrėžiamos formuojamos kriminologo profesijos kompetencijos. Straipsnyje įvardijami iššūkiai ir problemos, su kuriomis susiduriama arba artimiausiu laiku teks susidurti tiek programos vykdytojams, tiek jų studentams, taip pat ir jų galimi sprendimai, kurie leistų užtikrinti kokybiškų, šiuolaikinius poreikius atitinkančių kriminologijos studijų vystymąsi ir plėtrą

Macroeconomic factors and the perception of criminal justice in society: the role of shadow economies1

The purpose of the present research was to investigate the relationship between economic factors and public attitudes toward contraband as well as emotional responses to the criminal justice system. Our analysis is based on a macro-economic analysis based on world-systems theory’s upswings and downswings in economic growth (and subsequent unemployment and inflation). Additionally, interview data provide an individual explanation about perceptions of criminal justice in society. We argue that perceptions of criminal justice are based on the general economic conditions of society. In an economic downswing, individuals may be forced to take more risks in order to prosper or survive and that may be seen as ‘allowed’ and ‘normal’ behaviour under those conditions. As such, perceptions of criminal justice (and what is crime) may be viewed with greater tolerance. Our interview results suggest that the black market is a form of proxy indicator for perceptions of criminal justice in society. Interview results show a much greater tolerance of contraband during times of economic hardship. Men, the poor, and those less satisfied with their lives were found to be more likely to buy contraband.Key Words: criminal justice, public attitude, emotional response, contraband

Nužudymai Lietuvoje: sociologinis požiūris

The paper presents the results of sociological researches carried out within the frame­work of the project “Homicides in Lithuania: Criminological Research” carried out in 2012–2013 and supported by the Research Council of Lithuania. The sociological part of the project was intended to analyze the social factors that influence the homicides, as well as public attitudes toward the murders. In order to achieve this goal, there were reviewed the existing criminological theoretical insights on this issue, as well as ana­lyzed the empirical data on various social aspects of homicides. In the present publica­tion, the authors discuss the social, economic, and geopolitical contexts of homicides in Lithuania, present the sociological portrait of a murder based on the analysis of 894 criminal cases, and scrutinize various aspects of public attitudes towards homicides, murders, their victims, and the role of governmental institutions in the homicides’ con­trol and prevention in Lithuanian society. The statistical analysis of homicides and other negative social and economic indi­cators among European states reveals Lithuania to belong to the so-called “post-Soviet cluster” that may indirectly point at the historical socio-political roots of homicides in the country. It could also explain the dramatically high rate of homicides in Lithuania and other Baltic countries as compared with the European Union states. The study of criminal cases in Lithuania demonstrates peculiarities in murderers’ age and gender: in principle, only younger people commit group murders, among their victims there often are other men; women, differently than men, both in case of being a murderer or a victim, usually have close or family relations with the other participants of the crime incident. The results of a national survey show that respondents are able to differenti­ate murder’s cases and the appropriate sanctions. Most of respondents believe that the reduction of the number of homicides in society is linked with a severe and effective execution of criminal penalties, but at the same time they also are in favor of the homi­cides’ control and prevention program.Straipsnyje pristatomi projekto „Nužudymai Lietuvoje: kriminologinis tyrimas“1 pagrindu atliktų sociologinių tyrimų rezultatai. Projekto sociologinės analizės dalies tikslas buvo ištirti socialinius veiksnius, darančius įtaką nužudymams, taip pat visuomenės požiūrį į nužudymus. Siekiant šio tikslo buvo analizuojamos egzistuojančios kriminologinės teorinės įžvalgos šiuo klausimu (Čepas ir kt., 2013, p. 5–42), nagrinėjami empirinių tyrimų apie socialinius nužudymų aspektus rezultatai. Taip pat, remiantis baudžiamųjų bylų analize, buvo konstruojamas sociologinis žudiko portretas. Tyrimo metu buvo nagrinėjamas visuomenės narių požiūris į nužudymų problemas Lietuvoje

European sourcebook of crime and criminal justice statistics – 2021

This is the sixth edition of a data collection initiative that started in 1993 under the umbrella of the Council of Europe and has been continued since 2000 by an international group of experts that created the European Sourcebook of Criminal Justice e.V.1 and is also a Working Group of the European Society of Criminology. These experts act as regional coordinators of a network of national correspondents whose contribution has been decisive in collecting and validating data on a variety of subjects from 42 countries.2 This edition of the Sourcebook is composed of six chapters. The first five cover the current main types of national crime and criminal justice statistics – police, prosecution, conviction, prison, and probation statistics – for the years 2011 to 2016, providing detailed analysis for 2015. The sixth chapter covers national victimization surveys, providing rates for the main indicators every five years from 1990 to 2015. As with every new edition of the Sourcebook, the group has tried to improve data quality as well as comparability and, where appropriate, increase the scope of data collection. For example, offence definitions were updated to reflect the lessons learned from previous editions.peer-reviewe

Crime and press in Lithuanian society

Crime related publications in mass media have big impact on the public understanding of crime situation, as well as of the strategy and tactics in current criminal policy. Due to this fact, the diffusion of this kind of information becomes a serious social and political problem in modern society. The article "Crime and Press in Lithuanian Society" analyses trends and structure of crime related publications in Lithuanian press, their inner ideology, and public attitude to crime related publications. The article points on the fact that publications in Lithuanian press are not adequate to the official description of crime situation in society, create distorted image of crime, and misinform public about the real state of affairs in criminal justice. In its turn, images of crime and criminal justice could negatively influence the implementation of effective democratic criminal policy in Lithuania.Kriminalinės temos, jų plėtojimas žiniasklaidoje yra rimta politinė ir socialinė problema, turinti įtakos tiek esamai kriminogeninei padėčiai, tiek tam, kaip vykdomą baudžiamąją politiką supranta visuomenė. Straipsnyje analizuojama kriminalinio pobūdžio publikacijų Lietuvos spaudoje dinamika bei struktūra, leidinių ideologija, įvairių socialinių grupių reakcija į minėtą informaciją. keliamas susirūpinimas, kad visuomenė netapačiai, arba net ir iškreiptai yra informuojama apie kriminogenine padėtį šalyje. Teigiama, kad teks visuomenės informavimas gali pasunkinti demokratinės nusikaltimų kontrolės politikos formavimą ir įgyvendinimą Lietuvoj

Istorijos idėja filosofijoje

1989 m. birželio 27 d. Vilniaus universiteto Filosofijos katedros asistentas Arūnas Poviliūnas apgynė filosofijos mokslų kandidato disertaciją „Istorijos idėja filosofijoje“. Disertanto mokslinis vadovas – doc. A. Lozuraitis, oficialieji oponentai – profesoriai J. Minkevičius ir R. Plečkaitis bei doc. T. Sodeika. Disertacijoje teigiama, kad teoriškai eksplikuota istorijos filosofijos koncepcija formuojasi tik Renesanso epochoje kaip antropocentristinės pasaulėžiūros padarinys. Analizuojama istorijos problema klasikinėje vokiečių filosofijoje (I. Kantas, G. Hegelis). Paskutinėje dalyje nagrinėjamas materialistinės istorijos sampratos susiformavimas

Kriminoligija ir valdžia

Criminology is directly related to the issues of social control. Already the paradigm of classical criminology explains what a normal society should be and how it must treat its free citizens who violate the established order. The issues of social control are even more clearly raised in the positivist paradigm. Criminology is understood here as a science of psychology or sociology rather than law. And the engagement in the interventional policy of deviation and delinquency control appears next to a pure academic interest. Today, two trends co-exist in the discourse of criminology and the authorities: managerial and critical. The first one is related to the positivist paradigm. It is open to public institutions and provides them various criminological services. The second one can be originated from the classical paradigm and criminological awareness is more likely treated as a tool of the treacherous authorities, serving the interests of the dominant class, in the context of this trend. When shaping the strategies for crime control and prevention in Lithuania and other post-communist states, it is necessary to take both trends into account. Management issues are still relevant: on the one hand, transnational criminal issues cause concern; on the other hand, the effectiveness of the current criminal justice system is seriously questioned. However, critical perspectives cannot be overlooked: they allow for a more critical look at the objectives of criminal justice in new democracies and more responsible assessment of civil prospects of criminal policy

Exclusive justice

The article Exclusive justice is devoted to the societal aspects of the criminal justice policy. The problem of criminal justice system is discussed in the context of constructivists methodology. Such approach allows author to point on inevitably selective character of criminal justice, which rather produces social exclusion than restores justice in society. The article emphasizes neediness to mobilize resources of civil society for designing and implementing the effective crime control and crime prevention policy that should be reoriented from the prosecution and punishment of criminals to restoration and protection of human rights of possible and actual clients of criminal justice