Punitiveness and Fear of Crime in Hungary in the Past 30 Years
Punitiveness and Fear of Crime in Hungary in the Past 30 Years

Summary/Abstract: When stricter criminal policies are introduced, policy-makers often refer to society’s demand for more severe punishment. Are such references really valid? How punitive is Hungarian society and is this related to society’s fear of crime? This survey seeks answers to these questions and provides a survey of research carried out before and after the political transition (including related research by the author). The survey revealed that people felt safe in the socialist regime, although obviously at the expense of some limitation of their freedom. The situation changed significantly with the change of regime. Political power was no longer to be feared, but at the same time the situation in terms of crime deteriorated dramatically. People underwent these changes at some cost - on the one hand with an increasing fear of crime, and, on the other hand, by thinking in a more punitive way. Nevertheless, it cannot be stated with any certainty that Hungarian society’s demand for punishment to be increased grew immediately following the political transition. By the mid-90s, by approximately 1998, the crime situation had deteriorated sharply and people faced an ever-growing feeling of insecurity and fear. The new millennium brought further changes, and a decline in criminal tendencies was visible not only in Hungary but also across Europe. Surveys carried out in the early 2000s showed that fear of crime had decreased, albeit slightly. This has shown itself in a lower demand for greater punishment. However, the last few years have seen an increase in job insecurity, and the world economic crisis, whose impact has been felt intensively in Hungary due to country-specific problems, has exacerbated the value and moral crisis whose intensity has been fluctuating since the change of regime. It still remains unknown how these new difficulties will harden the radical mentality in connection with the punishment of crime –and there is still the open question of how closely criminal policy will follow public opinion.

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