Cultural and Moral Determinants of Crime in Nur-Sultan

Considering the cultural and moral determinants, the author observes that the process of moral decline that began since the late 1990s has contributed to the intensification of psychological tension in society, the escalation of an unfavorable moral atmosphere that negatively affects people's behaviour, and the growth of crime rate. People often put material values and benefits at the forefront, while the norms of morality have faded into the background. This tendency is most obvious in large cities, like Nur-Sultan. The situation is deteriorating due to the influence of modern mass media, undermining moral values and foundations of society through low-grade information, violence, cruelty, sadism, sexual licentiousness. Cultivating the values, stereotypes, and norms of the criminal circles, mass media affect the emerging social knowledge and behaviour of adolescents. The media attack on family values is strong, since television programs focus on divorces, love affairs, adultery, extramarital sex, queer relationships presented in a romantic way to set a new norm of behaviour. This approach is to oust the cult of the family as an absolute social value. The cultural and moral determinants of crime are closely interconnected with socio-economic ones. The economic and social crisis has affected many families, especially socially disadvantaged, which subsequently influenced the prevailing morals, attitudes, and expectations in the society as a whole. Having analysed the law enforcement practice and statistical reports, the author concludes that the most vulnerable are families in which adults have been unemployed for long or their labour is underpaid, so that they cannot provide for the family. It leads to alcohol abuse, parasitic lifestyle, while children are deprived of without proper parental control and education. According to the author, the indicators of moral decline also include low legal culture of the population, the decline of the family institution, the increase in the number of divorces and children born out of wedlock.

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