About us
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Origin
The Bulgarian Association of Criminology (BAC) was established on June 13th, 1986 – almost 70 years after the first institutionalization of criminology in Bulgaria – in 1922, when the Society for crime control was founded. The materials, published in the magazine issued by the Society were predominantly with a criminological focus.
The foundation of the Association was a logical and necessary step in the development of the Bulgarian criminology which, towards the mid 80s of the last century had already established itself as an independent social science, with an opulent empirical basis. The specialized and the other scientific sections conducted dozens of studies on crime prevention and control. The publications of the Bulgarian criminologists gained public recognition in the country as well as abroad.
The creation of BAC satisfies the necessity of regular contacts and joint efforts of the specialists and the teams working in the field of science and practice of crime prevention and control.
The members of the first Board of BAC (1986 – 1990) and the initiators of its foundation were: Prof. Dr. Veselin Karakashev – president; Prof. Dr. Baicho Panev – vice-president; Prof. Dr. Yordan Aidarov – chief officer; Prof. Dr. Zdravko Traikov; Ass. Prof. Dr. Simeon Bochev; Prof. Dr. Petko Donchev.
BAC is a collective member of the Bulgarian Scientific Union and of the International Society for Criminology.
Membership
Currently, there are 11 departments, scientific and other organizations with a collective membership in BAC: the Ministry of Justice; the Supreme Cassation Prosecution; the Supreme Court of Appeal; the Supreme Bar Council; the National Bureau of Investigation; the Institute of State and Law at the Bulgarian Academy of Science; the Research Institute of Forensic Science and Criminology at the Ministry of the Interior; Police Academy; the Council on Enforcement of Sentences at the Ministry of Justice (former Scientific and Methodological Council of Prison); the “Acute conditions and forensic psychiatry” ward at the University Hospital of Neurology and Psychiatry (former Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry and Forensic Psychology); the ACG Ltd. Pollster
There are about 70 researchers, professors, students, legal practitioners, and other specialists with individual membership in BAC, working at various departments, organizations and universities in the capital and other cities in the country. Members of the Association are not only criminologists but also specialists in fields related to criminology, which study criminality and crime, deviant behavior and deviations of the individual: criminal law and procedure, prison law, legal sociology, sociology of deviant behavior, pedagogy of deviant behavior, psychology of action, personality psychology, social activities, etc.
Mission
The work of BAC aims the accomplishment of the following fundamental tasks: to promote the development of criminology and scientific research as well as the popularization and effective utilization of the results of this research for the purposes of crime prevention and control; to co-ordinate and assist scientific collaboration in studying the problems of criminality; to promote education in criminology and related branches of science at our universities; to enhance the skills of our criminologists; to inform about various criminological events, etc.
Work
Scientific forums are held on a regular basis, where the condition and the prospects for the development of the Bulgarian criminological science are discussed. In 1997 was held the scientific session Criminology in Bulgaria – past, present and future, which marked the 10th anniversary of the Association. The round-table topic in 2006 – Criminology in Bulgaria in the transition period was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of BAC. The 25th anniversary of the Association was celebrated on June 14th, 2011, with the scientific session Prevention policy and contemporary crime.
A permanent seminar, with Prof. Dr. Baicho Panev and Prof. Dr. Boyan Stankov as its directors has been created at the Bulgarian Association of Criminology. Some theoretical and methodological issues of criminology and related branches, current issues of crime prevention and control, projects and laws as well as the results of empirical research have been discussed at the seminar’s sessions.
The most important events of this seminar over the years have been: the conference Cesare Beccaria – the outset of modern penal policy, which was held in 1995 and was dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the death of the great Italian philosopher and humanist, the father of modern criminal law and a precursor of the criminological science; the discussion of the drafts of the Judicial System Act (1992), the Criminal Code (1993, 1994, 2011, 2012), and the Mediation Act (2004); the discussions upon the idea of the Bulgarian President about the establishment of an independent body to fight corruption (2003), and upon the relevance of the criterion stated in article 93, paragraph 7 of the Criminal Code concerning the concept of grave offence (2009); the conference The problem of truth in detection and investigation of crimes, penalties and compensation to victims, which was held in 2004, in collaboration with the Union of Lawyers in Bulgaria; the celebration in 2007 of the 110th anniversary of the Bulgarian criminology, at which cadets from Police Academy presented their studies upon the life and work of the father of the Bulgarian criminological thought – Krastio Rakovski.
There are held meetings at which lecturers in criminology and related disciplines exchange viewpoints and experience concerning the content of the educational programs and the organization and methodology of the educational process.
Bulletins are prepared annually, containing information about closed research as well as the one conducted during the periods under review in forensic and related topics, about the final, ready-to-use scientific product, and the initiatives held by the Association.