Crime and Punishment in Serbia: Seven Decades of Penal Policy Development

Abstract The paper presents a comprehensive study of the development of penal policy in Serbia over the last 70 years. Yugoslav penal policy was moderate compared to other socialist countries in Eastern Europe; however, profound differences existed among the federal republics. The evolution of Serbian penal policy was marked by significant political events and shifting state priorities. The criminal justice system transitioned from a socialist, rehabilitation-oriented framework rooted in ideological collectivism to a human-rights-centred legal framework, and then to an increasingly punitive approach post-independence. This transition in the criminal justice framework was also reflected in penal statistics, as the number of convictions has steadily decreased throughout the observed period, while the prison population rate has risen more than threefold since 1990. The extensive use of custodial sentences by the judiciary places Serbia among a small group of European countries characterised by a very high prison population rate and a very short average length of imprisonment. The findings highlight the specific development of Serbian penal policy influenced by local political, economic, and normative developments.