This book uncovers the controversies around the suspended prison sentence, its main aims and features, and the role that it occupies within the wider criminal justice context. Suspended prison sentences were introduced in Central and Eastern European (CEE) states as alternatives to short prison sentences: although they were initially generally conceived of as exceptional penal tools, over time, they became the most imposed and dominant penal sanctions and, in that sense, a defining feature of criminal justice systems in the region.

The book provides a rich source of information about the development and features of suspended sentences in eight CEE countries, a topic that although of great importance due to their frequency, has received only scant academic attention. Employing a legal, socio-legal, and criminological approach, it achieves this goal through individual chapters on eight countries (Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, and Slovenia), and also through two general chapters, which outline the main specificity of the region as a whole but also present nuances between different countries.

The book will be of interest to a wide variety of academic researchers who study crime, punishment, and the penal system, and especially to those interested in sentencing. Given the huge discrepancy in the frequency of use of this sanction in CEE countries and the frequency of use of parole in contemporary practice, the work provides unique insights into the potential and desirability of its wider use, particularly due to minimal supervision that it requires in examined countries. The book therefore seeks to critically inform current thinking of the value and appropriateness of particular forms of sanctions in responding to crime.