Crime, Crime Control and Criminology in Post-Communist Estonia

Abstract

Since Estonia regained its independence in 1991, crime and crime control have been at the centre of political debate: in fact the new political party, Res Publica, has made ‘strong order’ a central plank of its platform. A rising trend in crime during the transitional period after independence levelled off after 2000. The rate of imprisonment in Estonia remains very high compared with Western European countries, but about half of the rate in Russia. A major reorganization of the prison system has been introduced, with the aim of improving management and prisoner conditions. Since independence, the small body of criminologists in Estonia has formed links with scholars elsewhere in Europe and has carried out substantial empirical research, for example on crime patterns and trends. It is argued that developments in criminal justice policy have been uneven because the Estonian state was re-established at a time when the role and nature of the state were everywhere undergoing transformation.