Romanies and delinquency

As the title of the contribution suggests, the issue discussed here is extr emely topical and serious one for contemporary society - delinquency of Rom anies. The goal of this article has been to explain those important aspects of delinquency of Romanies, which are the most important ones for finding possible solutions to this problem. I concentrated on defining the notions, then on the characteristics of social-cultural peculiarities of Romany eth nical group, phenomenology of Romany minority delinquency, its aetiology an d prevention. In the initial part, I briefly outlined the most relevant tendencies of dev elopment of registered delinquency in Slovakia with emphasis on Romany deli nquency. In this part I also explained those notions which are the most imp ortant with respect to the essay orientation. Next part deals with social-cultural characteristics of Romany ethnical gro up with the aim of clarifying for readers those characteristics which help us to get a better view and understanding of specifics of Romany ethnical g roup, their life philosophy, style, family. Even though this analysis is sh ort, it provides us a necessary insight into issue-the insight that is inev itable for complex recognition and understanding of delinquency of Romany m inority, and its aetiology. The section "Romany ethnical group" constitutes a kind of historic overview of events influencing the lives and status of Romanies in Slovakia. These influences are projected into present and are forcing Romanies further into unemployment, poverty and inferior status in the Slovak society. The above part is followed by the most important part of this contribution- the delinquency of Romanies. It begins with the analysis of the current st ate of things, structure and dynamics of Romany minority delinquency. My an alysis based on available statistical data provides not only overall survey of Romany delinquency, but also an itemised list of most frequent crimes a nd criminal offences committed by Romanies between the years 1989-2000. In the final part of this section I briefly outlined typical features of Roman y delinquency in the Slovak republic. Aetiology of delinquency logically follows the analysis of Romany delinquen cy, stating the most relevant delinquency-stimulating factors of Romany min ority, which help and facilitate the rise of criminal behaviour among membe rs of this ethnical group. A section dealing with prevention of Romany delinquency concludes the artic le. The sphere of the preventive activities is the most important part for finding an effective solution to this problem. I have to admit I have been unable to solve the problem that has been being solved without any visible results for many decades. In spite of this fact, I have tried to present th e most relevant topics to which preventive activities should be primarily d irected.