This volume examines the evolution of criminal policy, focusing on penal policy in Central and Eastern European countries from the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to the present, analysing the policy decisions, regulations, and specific conditions that have influenced these developments.

The chapters analyse penal policy across ten countries, highlighting the principal characteristics of each nation’s approach and examining their differences, with particular attention to criminal law, criminalisation, sentencing practices, and criminal justice. Focusing on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czechia, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia, the book demonstrates how state responses to crime and penal policy have evolved and provides insight into the underlying processes and significant events that have driven these changes.

Employing a comparative methodology and incorporating two cross-cutting chapters on penal policy, sentencing practices, and the rise of penal populism, The Development of Criminal Policy in Central and Eastern European Countries is intended for students and scholars of criminology, criminal justice, criminal law, and political science.