Lithuania

ENLithuania, like the other Baltic states, Latvia and Estonia, is the 'west of the east'. Both geographically and culturally it is midway between west and east. Lithuania is relatively small. Its population amounts to 3.7 million people. The population is relatively homogenous; 81 per cent of the population are Lithuanian. A large majority is Catholic. Lithuania was the first country to break away from the Soviet empire. The independence of Lithuania was the beginning of the end of this empire. Currently, Lithuania is going through a process of total and very rapid transition. The economic transition from a planned to a market economy has been followed by changes to the most important economic, political and legal institutions. Popular opinion has been turned on its head, and unprecedented contrast in living standards between the material elite and the rest of the population has emerged. Confusion and anomie have followed the breakdown in most stable and important traditions. The everyday atmosphere in this country is one of anxiety, preoccupation, uncertainty, perplexity, irritation, mistrust, nostalgia for singing revolutionary dreams, many of which did not come true. All these changes are accompanied by a rapid growth in criminality. Today (1999), we have 1.4 times more crime than in 1995 and 2.2 times more than in 1991. Increase in criminality is accompanied by an increased response from the criminal justice system. The number of police officers has more than doubled in the same period. This in turn has brought about an increase in the punitiveness of the criminal justice system and a greater role for incarceration.