Crime Related to New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) in Segregates of Miskolc

Abstract

Miskolc is a prime example of how socio-cultural, economic and social disparities between different parts of the country and communities lead to the widening of the gap between rural and urban crime. Despite the economic policy aspirations of the last decade, the countryside has become increasingly disadvantaged. Income disparities continued to widen. Residents of segregated areas of the underdeveloped regions are no longer able to catch up with the fast-paced capital city or western Hungary. As they are tempted to reach the advanced and coveted metropolitan standard of living in any way. For this reason, one of the characteristic forms of crime in rural areas has been the sale of psychoactive substances in segregated areas. These substances of uncertain composition and mode of action cause enormous
social damage in these areas, especially among young people, thereby catalysing social and
economic problems and preserving underdevelopment. While we may be aware that crime patterns related to conventional drugs, and even forms of crime against violent property,
are increasingly diminishing in view of the financial gain that can be achieved with new
psychoactive substances and the low risk of being caught and punished. I illustrate the situation
by presenting the crime situation of the former industrial city of Miskolc in the northeast of the
country and demonstrating the legal and social complexity of the criminology problem.