The introduction of the "hard-core" capitalist system, based on private ownership of means of production and on a free-market economy, has created several phenomena, previously little known in the "socialist" system. These phenomena include the unequal distribution of wealth and income, poverty, relative deprivations, mass unemployment, underemployment, and harsh exploitation accompanied by anti-working-class politics that strip the former social democratic welfare state and deny basic economic, cultural, and social human rights essential for the individual's dignity and free development of personality. Success in Slovene society has become defined in monetary terms and is accompanied by insatiable conspicuous consumption, the possession of additional status symbols, and the limitless pursuit of income and wealth. Thus, the precursor of deviance and crime is the dominant value system. Because of the smallness of Slovenian society, however, the mechanisms of informal social control are still powerful, particularly in small towns and provincial regions. In view of the steady growth in the number of crimes reported to the police and the growing concern of the general public about safety, the Slovene criminal justice system may find it difficult to preserve its relatively humane and mild penal policy. 20 references