Two Cultural Causes of Roma Criminality: Application of Amoral Familism and Culture of Poverty Concepts to the Situation of Roma-dense Localities in Northern Bohemia

Abstract

This paper presents an attempt to answer the question if any specific Roma/Gypsy criminality can be said to exist. Contrary to the answer common in lay discourse - 'It is in their blood' - the author takes as a conceptual point of departure the premise that Roma are bearers of a specific culture, i.e. a specific way of life that is learned (non-genetic), shared in a given group and adaptive in relation to the ecological and/or social environment. Taking culture as a point of departure, people behave as they do because: a) they have been brought up in this way (the determination by tradition); and b) it is more or less advantageous for them (the determination by adaptation). At this general level, then, we can identify two structural causes of Roma criminality: 1) causes determined by a specific (i.e., Roma) cultural tradition, and 2) causes resulting from the adaptation of the Roma to their surroundings represented by contemporary majority society.