Three Faces of the ‘Post-Socialist’ Juvenile Justice Systems

Abstract

In comparative juvenile justice, it is often suggested that Eastern European juvenile jurisdictions have a similar, ‘post-socialist’, character. This presumption indicates a certain level of uniformity in legislative features and justice policies across these countries that is related to their development before and after the political transition. The comparative approach taken in this article is focusing on the historical and contemporary differences in the development of these systems and thereby provide a more sophisticated understanding of this region. The evidence is presented in a comparative analysis of three Central European juvenile justice systems: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia.