Common and divergent pathways of suspended prison sentences in Central and Eastern Europe

The purpose of this chapter is to present and analyse suspended prison sentences as a penal instrument that is common across the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, but that has taken on peculiar and somewhat divergent forms in different countries during the last century. Building on the introductory chapter and the chapters pertaining to individual countries, in the current chapter we trace those trajectories of development over time, situating them in the wider social, political, and cultural context. We do so in two steps: in Part 1, we identify three distinct phases in the development of the suspended prison sentence, seeking to explain the extent to which the sanction has transformed in relation to its initial conception, as well as to elucidate the different trajectories that countries have taken in their approach to this sanction. In Part 2, drawing on the findings of the chapters pertaining to individual countries, we explore the key features of the suspended prison sentence and interpret the different meanings and weights that it has been endowed with in different jurisdictions. The discussion in this chapter provides the groundwork for a normative discussion of the most optimal form that the suspended prison sentence might take, which is the focus of the final chapter of this book.