The meeting was part of a series of worldwide discussions initiated by the Centre International de Criminologie Comparee of the University of Montreal. The Hungarian conference focused on three subtopics. The first set of presentations dealt with the limits of government power to punish offenders. These presentations also focused on historical, cultural, and social developments which affect the right to punish. The second set of presentations analyzed the philosophical, moral, and political justifications of the right to punish. Various theories of punishment (e.g., Kant's theory, socialist theory) were reviewed. The concluding set of presentations explored social reactions to crime and focused on the way the courts, the administrators of punishment, and the people themselves respond to crime. The book includes a list of conference participants and a summary of the discussion following each presentation.