f of them were carried out by overcoming locks or other
barriers protecting the property. Over one-half of the persons
apprehended for such thefts were repeaters. Analysis of other records
also indicated that in all but a very few cases the most serious crimes
were committed by individuals who had begun their criminal careers by
stealing.

At the same time the courts were handing down sentences of the minimum
punishment for theft or even less than the prescribed minimum. More
often than not, the culprits were given suspended sentences. Of those
convicted of serious theft, less than one-half were sentenced to a
period of deprivation of freedom considered appropriate--that is, the
six months or more prescribed in the criminal code.

More serious are the crimes of violence, political crimes, and economic
crimes involving abuse of management positions or large amounts of
property. In the period since the mid-1950s crimes of violence have
increased; political and serious economic crimes have decreased.

Citizens convicted of political crimes no longer constitute the bulk of
the prison population, as they did during the early post-World War II
period. Active or aggressively vocal opposition to the regime is usually
called ideological subversion, diversion, or revisionism, and it is
described as activity or expression of thoughts related to the old
society and not in accord with the policies of the new. It is still
listed among the more serious crimes. Officials of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs blame both external influences and dissident internal
factions for having caused the Hungarian revolution in 1956 and the
Czechoslovak troubles in 1968. They say, however, that such events are
unlikely in Bulgaria because the ministry's state security agencies are
busy combating foreign intelligence efforts and the native elements that
would bore from within. The success of their efforts is credited with
having reduced political trials to only a few each year.

Economic crimes include those of dishonest or illegal operation of an
enterprise, the misuse of socialist property by its management or
workers, currency manipulations, and improper sale or transfer of
property. If inefficient management practices are serious enough to
result in less than optimum production, they are considered criminal,
but sufficient guilt has been difficult to prove, and those accused are
rarely, if ever, prosecuted. They are occasionally reprimanded,
t