Is there a Right or Obligation to Inform People? – Traces of a Five-Way Murder in the Hungarian Press

Abstract

The quality of communication determines the relationship  between police and citizens. This ascertainment applies  both of past and present and it will be certainly true in the  future. The most important task of the press, including the  law enforcement press, is to provide accurate information.  In addition, crime prevention and criminal prosecution,  which is done with the involvement of the public, is an  unavoidable goal and task. However, this is not always the  case of present. What was the situation with law  enforcement issues re-politicized under direct party control  in the Kádár regime? I am examining this in connection  with a violent crime in Szeged in 1961. In the era, “socialist  shame” reluctantly reported crimes that were ideologically  distant from the system. Information about the Paprika  utca murder could not even be published in the local  newspaper. Police refused to share information about the  five-way homicide for weeks, despite the fact that the  perpetrator was unknown and the information could have  helped the investigation. Has the public been influenced,  informed or used by the police? Why and how did they do  this? In the 21st century, sixty years after the events, it is  particularly interesting and edifying to look at the aspects  of the protection of citizens by the police in the context of  such a serious crime.