Projects / Programmes
Tough, but fair? Punishment in Slovenia since its independence
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.07.00 |
Social sciences |
Criminology and social work |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S160 |
Social sciences |
Criminology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.05 |
Social Sciences |
Law |
sentencing policy, punishment, courts, sanctions, sentences
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
29615 |
PhD Mojca Mihelj Plesničar |
Criminology and social work |
Head |
2016 - 2017 |
298 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The research project will comprehensively analyse the penal policy in Slovenia since 1991. It will provide a clear overview of the trends, place them into a comparative setting and offer new insights into the processes and determinants that guide sentencing policy towards the two different extremes – the lenient and the punitive one.
The project comprises theoretical and empirical work. The theoretical part is mainly focused into analysing the literature and the statistics needed to identify and assess the potential determinants of penal policy: the amendments of legislation, crime trends, media reporting and public opinion. The most original part of the study is offered through its different types of empirical work: it comprises extensive case studies and questionnaire-based studies of court dockets, qualitative interviews with practitioners in criminal justice and ethnographic observations in courts during the phases of deliberating on the sentence. The theoretical and empirical work will enable us to place the Slovenian system into a comprehensive comparative context, analyse the commonalities and distinct differences between the Slovenian and other systems, and, in addition, offer some alternatives to the current trend.
Several issues that have previously not been addressed within the Slovenian system will be researched, e.g. actual sentences for homicide producing a longitudinal overview for the last 20+ years; the analysis of the introduction of plea-bargaining as a novelty in the system in 2012; observation of the dynamic in judicial panels made of professional and lay judges when deciding on the sentence, etc. The seemingly distant issues all tie in with the main rationale of the project, which is discovering the underlying reasons for a rather dramatic change in penal policy since the country’s independence.
The research stems from the findings on a steep growth in Slovenian imprisonment rates, albeit the country is still “lenient” in terms of imprisonment rates. What is distinctly different about the Slovenian penal system is a fundamentally different outlook the system knew in the socialist era, of which the low number of prisoners is still witness. Albeit being a totalitarian country with many of its worst features, the penal system seemed to operate much isolated from this main stance and under the guidance of professionals – criminologists, penologists criminal lawyers. The project will attempt to assess how much of this stance has remained a feature of the system today and, if as little as we believe, what has happened to have radically changed the outlook on punishment in general and sentencing in particular.
The research is highly relevant for the national context, but we believe it has value beyond that. It will offer new possibilities of comparative research in the field of punishment and seeking for new parallels and divergent features between comparable systems, e.g. systems that went through the period of transition. It will improve on recent catalogues of determinants of penal policies and add to the common European criminological knowledge.
Significance for science
The key contribution of the project is to fill the gaps in common knowledge about punitive policies across different systems around the world. The Slovenian system is a different and specific milieu among the countries of the former socialist bloc, as well as among modern European countries. With publications in domestic and foreign journals, the concept of “Slovenian exceptionalism " (Dünkel) will be publicised, explained and scrutinised at an academic level. The research project has relevance for several academic fields: - Criminology: progress in the field of sentencing and decision-making, criminal policy, sentencing policy - Criminal substantive and procedural law: studying long term consequences of changes to legislation, the functioning of mechanisms outside the original legislative intent - Penology: changing attitudes towards punishment and punishment methods, the introduction of new sanctions - Philosophy of law: the purpose of the punishment, the creation of legal rules - Sociology (of punishment): consideration of public opinion, the role of media in shaping penal policy - Indirect importance for Security Studies, Political Science. Knowledge of the functioning and reasons for the level of punishment, as it exists in Slovenia, enables new comparative criminological and criminal law studies and new lessons, partially tied specifically to the Slovenian system, and partly of a universal nature. In this respect, the research project will have a particular impact on European criminological and legal research. We have and will continue to present our findings to the international public through conferences and academic publications. Through the project, we have already established international academic contacts, which will result in joint international publications. The design of the empirical cases analysis will allow replication in other systems, which will further increase the possibility of a comparison between systems. Throughout the research, there has already been a lot of transfer of knowledge into the pedagogical process at all levels (under and postgraduate) at universities in Slovenia, where the researcher teaches, and abroad, where her colleagues, who are familiar with her findings, teach.
Significance for the country
A deeper understanding of the trends and the reasons for changes in sentencing and punishment from Slovenia’s independence until the present day will allow for improvements in the functioning of criminal justice and for the creation of better penal legislation and practice at the executive and legislative branches of government. By presenting the results of the research, especially the veiled reasons that have fostered changes in punishment, to professionals in the field of punishment, they are offered a more realistic insight into their work, supported by their experience and practice, and therefore more credible. Through professional seminars and publications targeting professional journals we have aimed at providing professionals with options to tackle decision-making in punishment in a more informed and thoughtful manner. Understanding the factors that influence penal policy will enable a more precise and deliberate formulation of penal policy at the court level in the future. In addition, it is important for the public to be aware of some misconceptions about the rise in crime and fear of crime, and the effects that can be achieved by punishment as well as those that cannot. From the point of view of creating punitive and criminal policy in the future, the possibility of quality content comparison of the Slovene system with foreign systems, which has not been present so far, is of fundamental importance. By placing Slovenia on the European and international comparative map, Slovenian decision makers are offered a clearer picture of where the national system sits in an international context, while European decision makers are offered new insights into possible good practices that could be followed or bad practices that need to be avoided. The original data and analyses obtained through the survey will enable further reflections and actions in the field of criminal law, penology, social work, communication and related sciences that will potentially bring about new social changes. The project was designed in order to maximise the transfer of academic knowledge to the professional and lay public, in order to achieve influence on the changes in the design of punitive policy at all levels (legislative, judicial, penitentiary, post-penal) towards a more sustainable, tolerant and humane social order in situations of nonconforming behaviour. This is also achieved through the transfer of knowledge to students in various university programmes (in particular law, social work, security sciences), who will co-create penal policy in the future. At the very practical level we can illustrate the importance of the project on two instances that have already occurred during the project: 1) the ammendments to the Criminal Code (wherein the new proposal fully followed the criticism submitted by the researcer in the phase of professional confrontation); and 2) changes to the planned prison enlargments (after a professional debate at the Institute of Criminology).
Most important scientific results
Interim report,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report,
final report
