URBAN CRIME HAS BECOME A GREAT CONCERN IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA, AND THE FIELD OF CRIMINOLOGY IS GROWING IN IMPORTANCE. THE PREMISES AND IDEOLOGY OF THIS NEOCOLONIALIST CRIMINOLOGY ARE EXAMINED; IT HAS BOTH IDEOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS FOR LEGITIMIZING NEW FORMS OF EXPLOITATION AND PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES FOR REORGANIZING THE STATE'S REPRESSIVE APPARATUS. WITH THE COUNTRY'S TRANSITION FROM A COLONIAL, PLANTATION-BASED, AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY TO 'INDEPENDENCE,' FOREIGN INVESTMENT, AND NEOCOLONIALISM, BOTH THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND METHODS OF IDEOLOGICAL DOMINATION HAVE CHANGED. THE FUNDAMENTAL PURPOSE OF THE COLONIAL LEGAL SYSTEM WAS TO MAINTAIN THE COLONIAL LINK AND REPRESS THE LOCAL POPULATION; THE SYSTEM UNDER NEOCOLONIALISM WORKS ON BEHALF OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS TO MAINTAIN A PARTICULAR KIND OF LAW AND ORDER WHICH IS CONDUCIVE TO STABILITY, SECURITY, AND PROFIT. WHILE 'RACE' AS A SOCIAL CATEGORY WAS SIGNIFICANT UNDER COLONIALISM, IT HAS BEEN REPLACED BY 'CRIME' UNDER NEOCOLONIALISM. NEOCOLONIALIST CRIMINOLOGY FOCUSES ON STREET CRIME; HOWEVER, THE REAL PROBLEM LIES IN IMPERIALISM AND ITS REPRESSIVE INSTITUTIONS: EXPLOITATIVE EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS, RURAL DEPOPULATION, CHAOTIC URBANIZATION, POOR HEALTH AND HOUSING CONDITIONS, AND A COMPETITIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. CRIMINOLOGISTS ADMIT THAT THE APPALLING CONDITIONS IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES GENERATE URBAN CRIME, YET THEY DIRECT ATTENTION TOWARD THE SUPPRESSION OF 'CRIMINALS' RATHER THAN TOWARD THE POLITICAL ECONOMY RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCH CONDITIONS. THE CONCLUSION IS THAT WITHOUT A CRIMINOLOGY ROOTED IN AN UNDERSTANDING OF IMPERIALISM, ONE CANNOT ADDRESS THE REAL PROBLEMS OF CRIME IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES; NEOCOLONIALIST CRIMINOLOGISTS ARE SUPPORTING THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF IMPERIALISM, NOT ANALYZING IT.