Crime in Albania
[1] The Penal Code is based on the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, with general principles of international criminal law ratified by the Albanian state.
Studies on the complexity of Albanian honor violence is an area which requires a careful approach as family members involved will often hold onto cultural values passionately, and no single factor can be explanatory.
Studies on the Albanian blood feuds phenomena show that poor living conditions, mountainous habitats and low education contribute to isolation.
In general, crimes related to honor and masculinity tend to be stronger in Mediterranean countries, like Albania, than in northern Europe.
Albanian families tend to feel obliged to take personal matters into their own hands as the trust for the judicial system is rather low.
[4] The first traces of criminality being handled within a system of codes, in the present day area of Albania, was in the 15th-century where the Kanun law was practiced amongst Albanian mountaineers.
Although primitive, the system worked well, was often fast, cheap and left few crimes unsolved, in comparison with other European counterparts.
[6] As the Pashaliks of Scutari, Yanina, Berat, and Monastir all strived for decentralized systems of power in the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries, lawlessness erupted as a central authority was absent.
In 1847, during the southern Albanian revolts, the local beys resisted the Porte's taxation system (tanzimat) which risked the feudal relations of merchants and craftsmen.
[8] Albanian criminal justice system was the same as of other European socialist countries in 1946 with the model of the People's Republic of Albania in 1946 being taken from the USSR.
[12] Albanian organized crime has become a transnational phenomenon with ties in Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and the Italian and Colombian mafia as well.
Money laundering helps syndicates diversify their revenues, which is a result of the fall of communism, which allowed for organized crime to penetrate into politics.
