Statistika imovinskog kriminala u Kraljevini Jugoslaviji

Abstract

The paper analyzes statistical data on property crime in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the period from 1924 to 1939. The analysis includes the manner of collecting and publishing data on the overall structure of crime by the General State Statistics Office of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, as well as the organization of courts in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The author also explain the difference in the way of presenting data on crime in statistical yearbooks according to the legal categorization of criminal offenses. The paper presents data on adults and minors convicted by decisions of first-instance, district and county courts from 1922 to 1939. Criminal offences against property were predominant in the overall structure of crime. According to the data from district and first-instance courts, the most common property-related crime was theft, while the data from county courts show that the most frequent crimes were theft and petty theft (misappropriation of another's movable property, food and small-value life necessities). The structure of recorded property crimes indicates that the crimes were primarily caused by poverty and difficult economic situation of the population in times of hardship. It is confirmed by the fact that both the total crime rate and the total property crime rate in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were at the highest level during the World Economic Crisis in the period from 1929 to 1932.