“A Gypsy is just different from any cultured man”. A discourse on the criminalisation of Gypsies with special reference to criminologist Hans Gross’s racist views
“A Gypsy is just different from any cultured man”. A discourse on the criminalisation of Gypsies with special reference to criminologist Hans Gross’s racist views

Author(s): Andrej Studen
Subject(s): Criminology, Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: Hrvatski institut za povijest
Keywords: Gypsies; Roma people; criminalization; Hans Gross; public opinion;
Summary/Abstract: Author discusses attitudes regarding Gipsy problem, since they constantly (because of their nomadic style of life) had various disputes with local authorities. They were often regarded as “vermin”, “thieves and crooks”, who use their crafts mainly as an excuse for thefts and beggary. For a long time misfits Gypsies lived on the margins of society; even at the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century they refused to live according standards of a modern state. Thus, they predominantly lived out of any statehood or law system, usually perceived as stateless, jobless vagabonds and criminals. Such a criminal image / identity of Gypsies resulted with frequent criminal prosecution of this “provincial pest”. Consequently, their nomadic style of life became their “Achilles heel”, since they were frequently arrested, intimidated and put on forced labor exactly because of their way of life. Public opinion towards Gypsies as criminals was modeled according the contemporary newspapers. Moreover, even some scientists considered Roma people as a type of criminals. Namely, Hans Gross, father of modern criminology, in his study Handbuch für Untersuchungsrichter (1893), have shifted analysis of moral characteristics of a criminal – almost in racists manner - in a specter of “ethnically defined group of Gypsies”. Consequently, Gross morally stigmatizes Gypsies in his detail analysis of their criminal characteristics.

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