Prompted by the recent events in Kosovo, I am trying to set down in this article a few thoughts on crimes, which, although states and societies everywhere in the world fight them, are still, intentionally or unintentionally, undergoing a troubling evolution.

My perspective on this topic aims to shed light, from a professional standpoint, on those people who constitute crime and who commit this criminal act.

First, it must be understood that our society does not have a deep understanding of the circumstances in which crimes occur. Therefore, it is essential to give the green light to look further into the past, but also into the future.

We came to a democratic society from a totalitarian regime, and even now we do not have a clear idea of how to build a democratic state. We do not know the foundational principles of building this system. That is the first thing, and the second is that, with the advent of democracy, our schools and our national intellect suffered a heavy blow. When I say “us,” I also mean our brothers in Kosovo.

This time that we call transition must serve every day as a learning experience for our future steps in dealing with crime.

Crimes in the world are of the most varied kinds: state, social, or individual and private crimes.

Likewise, they are divided into organized or sporadic crimes.

In our country, the macabre event of Museli has caused a huge uproar, because it has violated the family, the community, and civil society.

I pose a simple question:

The crime of the former Albanian deputy prime minister was far more damaging to the Albanian state and society; the crimes of interior ministers, caught or gripped in the clutches of drugs, were likewise more damaging to public opinion and Albanian society. I could go on listing names and criminals here, but that is not the purpose of this article.

Crime is a social phenomenon against which, although an eternal war is waged both legally and professionally, the results are still not what we desire.

But what happens? When the law, instead of striking a criminal who damages the entire society and the state with his actions, acts with its eyes closed, or instead of a blow, gives a pat on the back, removing him from his seat, or sentencing him to a paid prison, house arrest, or worse still, punishing him in a free manner, by paying a large sum of money as bail.

From the moment he pays, the law itself softens, creates conveniences, or seeks ways to lighten the load rather than impose a strict punishment. Like in that film we know... Here is the law... and here is Maliqi...

Today we are revolted, and we demand strict punishment for the criminal... but the law does not say this, because there is also a great barrier regarding human rights, when in fact criminals of this magnitude should not even be called “human beings.”

My grandmother had a proverb on this topic: “Woe to the one the priest takes, because for the one the prosecutor takes, a cure can be found.”

And it is truly so, because for the criminal, both the law on one side and the defense on the other begin their work... So between them is a ball game where they toss it to each other, until a consensus is found, which often ends as we know... a long sentence... with a short imprisonment.

To be clearer, I will quote below: What is crime?

Crime is the action of a person or a group of people who act in opposition to the laws in force...

This has to do with murder, arson, and destruction to the detriment of the individual, society, or the state.

Crime in different countries of the world is punished in different ways and to different extents.

Why does this happen, and how can this be made suitable for us?

Often in Eastern countries, where we come from, the legislation and penal code of Western Europe are adopted. This, to me, is a flawed method.

And as a bit of a joke, I will make a comparison for you. Years ago in 2002, when I was living in Greece, a school principal said to me:

“Now we have become just like Europe, we even have the same European currency.” I told him at the time, “We have the same currency, but a principal in Germany gets 4,000 euros, while you, with all your many years of experience, get 1,500.”

He told me, “We will fight to bring ours up to that much too...” and after six or seven years he brought it to where we know, into a crisis that is still floating around today...

I told him, “We have the same laws, and the constitution, but what do you need Germany’s constitution for, when it buys and sells tanks, cannons, airplanes, and submarines, while you neither produce them, nor have any to buy or sell.”

The example goes to show that Albania and Kosovo, too, must have a penal code that answers to them. To the level of the conditions and circumstances in which they live.

Not to drag this out, because the article goes much further... I want to say that... suicides, and organized or unorganized murders, have a basis in Albania that must be stated and universally accepted. Prisons around the world are so filled with Albanians that we must sit down, think, and pose the question: why?

From the criminal act of a Museli, the core of the evil is not Museli, but is hidden deeper. Museli, whether we like it or not, will receive his punishment, and after a year he will be forgotten. But will crimes end after a year?

The way this crime was committed against his wife has caused society to be shaken.

To everyone’s surprise, when a girl poisons herself, the case is closed and quickly forgotten. When a mother throws herself from a balcony and commits suicide on the streets we walk on, she is quickly forgotten. When a girl is taken by force and raped, or is forcibly taken or deceived by various clans into prostitution, is it not the same in terms of crime? Why are these cases not so bombastic?

I pose the question not to create a weakness in anyone’s logic:

“Does the maximum penalty against an individual or criminal group reduce criminality?”

And I, likewise without any hesitation, give the answer:

“Absolutely not.”

Then the question arises, “What should we do?”

In truth, there is not just one solution, but many of them; however, I am setting forth the main ones, and I am concluding the article so that the reader does not get tired and can understand its essence as clearly as possible.

The clearest example for me is this.

All our convicts around the world—for drugs, prostitution, theft, contract killings—have one thing in common: ignorance. They are uneducated, and being so, they seek the shortest routes to profit. Their minds know neither the laws, nor society, nor the family, because they abandon it before turning eighteen.

Let us look at the other side, to understand the truth.

Our talents in sports, in music, cinematography, in science, in medicine, etc., are giving and showing the world our culture and our best qualities...

While the uneducated ones show our dark side both to the world and in our homeland.

I personally know over a hundred cases here in London of children who have come from Albania under the age of seventeen, whom the state takes in, sends to school, and educates to make them capable for society. To stay here, they fabricate all sorts of nonsense about blood feuds, broken families, etc. In saying this, I can also give examples of my friends here on Facebook... who keep, feed, and fight so that these children do not become criminals, but harmonize with the rhythms of society.

And what is the surprise? Many of these children have their parents here, yet they make no effort to raise them themselves. What parent kicks their fifteen-, sixteen-, or seventeen-year-old child out of the house so that English or German society can take care of them? To me, it is unacceptable.

In closing, I want to say that one of the successes for reducing criminality is raising the standard in schools and in the family, in order to bring citizens with human values into life.

In another article, we will analyze the causes and the analyses that lead to murders in the family, and specifically in that of the late Liridona!