Criminal events in Albania/ Why are they repeated and where is the breeding ground for criminality?

2026-06-21 13:56:00, Aktualitet CNA

Criminal events in Albania/ Why are they repeated and where is the breeding

When a murder, an assassination, or a violent robbery makes headlines, the question is no longer simply who did it. The real question is why criminal events in Albania are recurring at a rate that makes shock commonplace.

And when crime becomes a media routine, the problem is not just the news. The problem is the state, the territory, and the message given to citizens.

Albania is not only faced with individual perpetrators of crimes. It is faced with a climate where violence, trafficking, conflicts over economic interests, revenge, urban criminality, and informal networks coexist with the weakness of institutions.

This is why the black chronicle is no longer read as a series of disconnected episodes. It should be seen as a mirror of a deeper illness.

Why do serious events repeat?/ The role of institutions and questions that should not be closed
June 20, 16:20

Criminal incidents are not just statistics

Numbers are often used to soften reality. There is talk of a decrease or increase in the crime rate, of police operations, of seizures and arrests. But the average citizen does not live by numbers.

He lives with a sense of insecurity. He measures public order by the sound of bullets in the middle of the city, by TNT explosions, by mysterious disappearances, by domestic violence and by the fact that the perpetrators often seem one step ahead of the state. Here lies the greatest public deception. A criminal event does not end at the scene of the crime.

From murders to accidents, the picture is broader
June 20, 16:59

It continues with the investigation dragging on, the file weakening, the evidence being lost, the citizens' fear of speaking out, and the belief that someone strong will always find a way out. This is precisely what feeds the cycle.

Crime in Albania has another feature that should not be embellished with bureaucratic language. It is adaptive. It changes form, moving from the street to the economy, from the neighborhood to the tender, from physical trafficking to money laundering. Therefore, anyone who sees it only as a matter of patrols and checkpoints either does not understand the problem, or pretends not to understand it.

Where the breeding ground for crime is created

There is no single cause. Whoever promises a simple explanation for such a serious phenomenon is usually selling propaganda. Criminal events in Albania arise where several failures come together at once.

Criminal events in Albania/ Why are they repeated and where is the breeding

Illustrative photo

First, there is the weakness of the state in prevention. The police react, but do not always prevent. There are cases when people with precedents, known conflicts or a history of threats move freely until the tragedy occurs. After the event, the spectacle of official announcements begins. Before the event, the void.

Second is slow justice. When files drag on for years, when decisions are contested, when the public sees arrestees released and then released, a dangerous perception is created that punishment is neither swift nor certain. For the criminal, this is space. For the citizen, it is surrender.

Third is the fragile economy and social environment. Unemployment, lack of prospects, mass emigration and the emptying of entire areas do not automatically produce crime, but they create terrain where recruitment becomes easier. Young people who do not see legitimate paths to social ascent are more vulnerable to the lure of quick money, especially in circles where crime is seen as a power rather than a shame.

Fourth comes the culture of impunity. This is a slow poison. When society sees that the local strongman, the trafficker, the shady builder, or the politically connected figure is not affected like others, then the law loses its moral authority. And without moral authority, the state remains just a uniform. /CNA