Organized racketeering, government corruption, criminal predation, and legal repression have been substantially reduced in Cuba and China under socialism, along with the exploitation and misery of the old regimes; however, the process of transformation presents contradictions that are criminogenic. Central among these are the tensions between centralization and decentralization of power and production, between moral and material incentives, urban and rural development, efficiency and egalitarianism, expertise and mass participation, and order and reform. Cuba's comparatively greater success in handling or containing these contradictions is owed partly to its energetic and innovative leadership but more importantly to the relatively greater economic development of Cuba. Cuba's problem with technical and political elitism is also less severe, in part because educational gaps within the nation are not nearly so severe as in China. Crime patterns are fundamentally affected by choices in ideology and economic development. Cuba's problems of delinquency, black marketeering, and domestic discord are not likely to be easily resolved so long as the pace of social change destabilizes the traditionally sexist family structure, and the tolerance toward small independent farms opens the way to limited speculation on foodstuffs. The Chinese abandonment of collectivist Maoist ethics in favor of free market development contributes to the rising crime rates and the formation of well-organized criminal enterprises in the cities. Fifty-six references are listed.