Workers can be prosecuted for theft, waste, willful damage, or illegal use of materials. Poor labor discipline, shirking on the job, or nonmalicious negligence may result in individuals or entire work shifts being brought before party groups or trade union committees. Action in such cases usually involves counseling, social pressure, or the like.

Consumption of alcohol is not excessive when compared with that of other European countries, but it has been increasing steadily and has been a major contributor to crime and antisocial behavior. During the 1960s per capita consumption of absolute alcohol increased by a factor of nearly 50 percent, from 4.01 quarts per person annually to 5.93 quarts. Strenuous efforts on the part of the country's leadership to combat the trend resulted in a decrease between 1968 and 1970, but the dip in consumption was temporary. Per capita consumption in 1971 reached the highest level yet recorded.

Police are involved in aspects of the programs combating the rise in consumption of alcohol and alcoholism because alcohol has figured increasingly in crime. Nearly 90 percent of those charged with rowdiness or disturbing the peace were under its influence, as were increasing percentages of those apprehended on rape, assault, and murder charges.

Many more men than women have alcohol problems, but the percentage of women problem drinkers has risen more rapidly. Similarly, consumption by youths is less than that of adults, but the numbers of youths becoming habitual drinkers has been increasing. Many of the campaigns against the use of alcohol are also directed against smoking and drugs, although neither of these is considered a cause of serious concern. Smoking is viewed as an evil that may be damaging to the user's health but that has no serious social consequences. By 1973 drugs had not become a serious problem.

The police monitor a large number of alcoholics whose conditions are chronic but who can work. These persons get a period—ordinarily from six months to a year—of compulsory treatment. This may include work therapy in groups that are supervised to the degree necessary to prevent the members from acquiring alcoholic beverages.

Increasing tourism has resulted in special problems in resort areas. Spokesmen note that what they refer to as petit bourgeois attitudes toward moneymaking have shown up, especially at the new Black Sea coastal resorts. Local people inflate prices for tourists, accept and encourage tips, and buy and sell merchandise illegally. On some occasions the Bulgarians exploit their guests; at other times the foreigners exploit the local population. Most seriously viewed of the adverse tourist influences are the introduction of unacceptable ideology and foreign encouragement of moral laxity which, according to the authorities, pervades the area. Occasionally, however, there is an example of an ideological diversity in a direction opposite that of lax morality. One group of tourists was evicted from the country after distributing what the police described as forty Bibles and 150 godly booklets. Many tourists enter the country by automobile; traffic has become congested, and violations of traffic laws are more numerous than the police can cope with.

Criminal Code

The criminal code's preamble states that its purpose is to protect the society and the state, the person and the rights of its citizens, the economy, and the state's property and laws and to educate the citizens in the rules of life in the socialist society. It defines crimes as socially dangerous acts that are identified and declared by law as punishable.

In addition to the qualification that a crime must be set down as such and declared punishable, the individual is further protected by the stipulation that he may be punished only when he has been found guilty of one of the listed crimes by a proper court. The punishment may be only what is set down in the code and declared consistent with the crime, and it may be imposed only by the court trying the case.

Adults, eighteen years of age or older, are criminally liable. Minors, between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, are criminally liable if they are judged capable of understanding the act and its significance and of controlling their actions. Juveniles under fourteen years of age and mentally deficient persons unable to understand the nature or significance of a criminal act are not criminally liable.