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Crime in Postrevolutionary Cuba
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
Summary
One of the primary problems facing comparative criminologists is the determination of the critical by which countries will be grouped for study. Some researchers have chosen to focus their study on development and modernization and have used these criteria to place countries among developed, underdeveloped and socialist countries.
The Cuban development process illustrates the difficulty of grouping countries or assigning direct linkages between crime and modernization. Cuba lies between the socialist model and that of the developing countries of the Third World. While Cuba is undeniably a socialist state it is at least as influenced by its Latin American roots and economic dependency as it is by its ideology. This, in turn, is reflected in the way crime is perceived and defined.
The purpose of this article is to review the effect of conditions associated with the revolutionary process on criminalization and repression decisions. Space limitations and the unreliability of much of the data do not permit a discussion of all crimes so that we will focus on selected offenses and the impact which the new socialist system have had on their criminalization. The following factors shall be considered: 1) the new distribution of goods and the means of production; 2) the need to maintain systemic legitimacy and political stability; 3) economic development measures; 4) repudiation of conduct associated with capitalist corruption. This analysis shall also take into account the effect of Cuban culture on these decisions.
Résumé
L'un des principaux problèmes auxquels se heurtent les chercheurs en matière de criminologie comparée est l'établissement de critères de différenciation qui leur permettront de catégoriser les pays étudiés. Certains d'entre eux ont choisi de mener leurs travaux à partir des notions de développement et de modernisation, notions qui leur ont permis de répartir les pays en trois groupes distincts: pays développés, pays sous-développés et pays socialistes.
La manière dont Cuba s'est développée illustre la difficulté qu'il y a à vouloir regrouper entre-eux certains pays ou à établir des liens de relations directes entre criminalité et modernisation. Cuba est issue à la fois du modèle socialiste et des pays en voie de développement du tiers-monde. Bien qu'il soit incontestablement socialiste, l'État Cubain est influencé autant par ses racines latino-américaines et sa dépendance économique que par son idéologie. Ce qui ne manque pas de se refléter dans la manière dont la criminalité est perçue et définie.
Le but de cet article est d'examiner les effets des conditions du crime liées au procès révolutionnaire de la criminalisation et de la répression. Des impératifs de place ainsi que le peu de fiabilité de la plupart des données statistiques n'ont pas permis de prendre en considération tous les types de crimes. Nous en avons donc sélectionnés certains et avons centré notre étude sur le rôle que le nouveau système socialiste a joué quant à leur criminalisation. Les facteurs suivant seront considérés:1)
1) la redistribution des biens et les moyens de production
2)2) la nécéssité de maintenir la légitimité du système et la stabilité politique
3)3) les mesures de développement économique
4)4) répudiation des conduites liées à la corruption capitaliste. Cette étude prendra également en considération l'influence de la culture Cubaine sur les décisions politiques.
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- Copyright © 1986 International Society for Criminology
References
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