While the range of criminal activities in the GDR is what might be expected in the West, the primary concerns of the regime are the rising number of property crimes, the increase in juvenile delinquency, and the high rate of recidivism. The problem of offenses against property is demonstrated by the numerous public statements demanding greater respect for property. Lack of respect for socialist property is a sensitive issue, since it reveals a fundamental lack of appreciation for the concept of the socialist order. Official expectations for crime reduction have been scaled down from the early prediction of Marxist prophets that crime would be eliminated with the development of an advanced socialist society. The persistence of criminal behavior has not, however, resulted in increased repression by the authorities, as coercion has been tempered by educational programs and responsiveness to public opinion. A lack of adequate ideological emphasis is repeatedly cited as a primary contributing factor in the persistence of crime. This view becomes the basis for the educational response. Because the regime itself has made the crime level a symptom of the failure or success of the socialist system itself, its persistence and its increase could make the credibility of the regime and its ideology unstable. Fifty-six notes are listed.