Criminal Policy Choices and the Reform of the Estonian Criminal Law
| Author | Jaan Ginter |
| Pages | 79-84 |
Jaan Ginter
Criminal Policy Choices and the Reform of the Estonian Criminal Law
During the occupation period of 1940 to 1991, major criminal policy choices for Estonia were made in Moscow. 1 The criminal policies for this time were similar throughout all former socialist countries. "The criminal justice systems under the socialist regime had the dual categories for application of law because the criminal justice was subjected to the socialist party. While the party leaders and officials hardly were subjected to the criminal investigation, the most of citizen was frequently subjected to harsher criminal sanctions. As a result the most of citizen lost the belief and respect for the law which functioned under socialist regime." 2
The reformation of Estonia's criminal policy started in 1991, immediately after having regained its independence. 3 In 1992, the Criminal Code was subjected to major reform: the articles of criminal law which had functioned as safeguards for socialism were repealed, the sanction system was reformed towards a more human approach, and the use of capital punishment was restricted to cases involving the most aggravated violent crimes. 4 Unfortunately, the inadequate basic structure of the old Criminal Code was not changed by the 1992 reform. Hence, the preparation for a new, more comprehensive reform started immediately following the adoption of the 1992 version of the Criminal Code.
The most important external condition for the Estonian Criminal Law reform is that in the majority of the developed countries throughout the 1990s, the global crime trends have reversed. "Since the 1950s, crime has become a global problem for the majority of developed countries; the crime rate has been growing at a very high speed (even in comparatively calm Northern European countries the number of crimes has increased more than 4 times)". 5 In the USA the crime rate (per 100,000 population) increased from 1,887 in 1960 to 5,500 in 1987; in Germany the crime rate increased from 3,071 (in 1951) to 7,269 (in 1987); in the United Kingdom from 1,094 (in 1950) to 7,421 (in 1987) and in France from 3,254 (in 1972) to 5,712 (in 1987). At the same time the crime rate in Japan (not including traffic offences) decreased from 2,000 (in 1948) to 1,291 (in 1987). 6
The crime trends reversed in the 1990s. The crime rate in the United States steadily decreased throughout the 1990s (see Chart 1). The initial decline can be attributed to the "get tough on criminals" policy. The United States criminal policy has increasingly become oppressive, the prison population has been steadily growing, reaching new peaks year after year. Concurrently, the crime rate has been shrinking, resulting in extremely favourable publicity for supporters of harsh criminal policies.
Subsequently, the 1990s have seen similar success in European Union countries, were the crime rate has decreased as well (see Chart 2).
Furthermore, there has been no increase in prison populations or other severe criminal punishments in the EU countries. Hence, the decline in crime rates in the United States may have other causes beside harsh sentencing. The indication has not been well received by advocates of severe criminal policy.
At the same time in Japan, the traditional example of a country with an unconventional decline in crime rate, crime trends have also reversed. Japan has seen an increase in criminality, which began in the later half of the 1970s and continued through the 1980s and 1990s (see Chart 3).
Consequently, these indicated controversial trends have hindered the emergence of a commonly agreed upon criminal policy for developed countries. There are proponents of rigid criminal policies, which refer to the story of success in the United States, as well as opponents, referring to the successes of other countries' reduced crime rates.
The most important internal condition for the Criminal Law reform in Estonia is the manifest increase of crime rate that the Estonian criminal policy-makers and all...
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