Slovakia (population 5.4 million) is a Central European country with a history of relatively low crime. While crime became more widespread after the

Revolutions of 1989 The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

, it remains low when compared to many other post-communist countries. Slovakia employs numerous law enforcement bodies and secret services in fighting crime, yet according to numerous

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinion ...

s the Police together with the Secret Services are some of the least trusted institutions in the country.

Crime by type

Murder

In 2018, Slovakia had a murder rate of 1.37 per 100,000 population. There was a total of 57 murders in Slovakia in 2016.

Violence and theft

Apart from the occasional mafia shooting,

gun violence Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, and ...

is rare in Slovakia. There are approximately 3,000 – 4,000 home

burglaries Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...

and 7,000 – 8,000 car thefts in Slovakia each year. Together, there are around 15,000 cases of violent criminal acts (damage to victim's life or health) in Slovakia each year.

Illegal drug trade in Slovakia

Slovak Republic is a party to the 1988 UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1972 Protocol thereto, and the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Not only the manufacture and selling of certain drugs is illegal but also their possession. Slovak law does not differentiate between hard drugs and soft drugs and sentences can in theory be as harsh as life imprisonment. Until the mid-1990s the drug situation in Slovakia remained somewhat stable; extensive small-scale illicit amphetamine production, no opium poppy cultivation, only minimal

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

cultivation in private greenhouses and the country was already a key transit point for smuggling Asian heroin to Western Europe both via

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and lying on the "Balkan route" from Turkey. Seizures of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

up to this point have been minimal and at this time Slovakia emerged as another crossroads for cocaine traffickers seeking new routes to Western Europe ( Colombian traffickers have been smuggling cocaine through the neighboring

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

since 1991). Because the banking sector in Slovakia was still in nascent stages at this time, drug money laundering operations were limited. In November 1995, an independent national drug service was created in Slovakia and the government established a new comprehensive anti-drug plan to target drug trafficking and use and made drug-related changes to the criminal code. The biggest seizures made by the Slovak police in 1995 were a 123.5 kilogram heroin seizure, and a 25 kilogram cocaine seizure. Implementation of chemical control regulations and legislation continues to create concern about the vulnerability of the country's well-developed chemical and pharmaceutical industry being partially used for the production of illegal drugs or precursor chemicals.

Organized crime

The Slovak mafia constitutes various

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

groups in Slovakia, controlled primarily by Slovak interests. The Slovak mafia does not have significant international presence and even in Slovakia, their activities are limited by boundaries set by the powerful Russian mafia (including Ukrainian and

Chechen mafia The Chechen Mafia ( ce, Нохчийн мафи, ''Noxçiyn mafi''; rus, Чеченская мафия, Chechenskaya mafiya) is one of the largest ethnic organized crime groups operating in the former Soviet Union next to established Russian mafi ...

) and various Balkan groups controlling much of the heroin trade. The Slovak mafia is especially active in security business, construction and ownership of restaurants and nightclubs. According to the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

"both indigenous and foreign organized crime groups are well established in Slovakia". Under Slovak law, the creation or support of an organized crime group constitutes a crime.

Corruption

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

’s Global Corruption Barometer 2013 indicates that corruption remains a serious problem in Slovakia.

Crime dynamics

During the 1990s, there were 2,300 reported crimes per 100,000 citizens in Slovakia. In comparison with the neighboring countries - it was 3.200 in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, 3.400 in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, 4.100 in the

and 6.100 in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. From 1989 to 1999, the number of crime perpetrators has slightly risen from over 35.000 in 1989 to almost 45.000 in 1999. The number of perpetrators not convicted remains stable at some 80 percent of total perpetrators. Also somewhat stable is the number of habitual offenders at approximately 10.000. The 2000s saw again a slight rise in the number of perpetrators and a steep rise in economic crime.

References

External links

Registered criminal offences by regions in the Slovak Republic in 2009 total
- official data from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic
Damages caused by criminality in total (1989-2005)
- official data from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic {{DEFAULTSORT:Crime In Slovakia