While public opinion has frequently been in the center of criminological attention, it has been considered to a lesser degree from the viewpoint of crime control. Public opinion is as important for socialization as for control. Moreover, it has a self-regulation significance for each individual since socialization imposes certain limitations on people. In this context, important forms of possible public opinion control are: observation, learning and imitation, assessment and evaluation, condemnation and deterrence, interference and itervention, and various kinds of pressures by punishing and labeling. In one sense, deviancy is an expression of public opinion since violation of norms is an open manifestation of attitudes toward social conformity. Viewed from this perspective, criminality is highly communicative behavior. 57 footnotes. (Author abstract modified)