In general, the system of anticipatory punishment is critically assessed by penologists. Criminal law seems to be imbued with anticipatory tendencies, and the term criminal offence now nothing more than an empty phrase in the legal system. The legislative scope for describing "deeds before deeds" out of crime policy considerations, so as to encounter the risk of injury at the earliest stage possible, seems to be limitless. The German and the Hungarian criminal justice systems both stipulate the criminal offence as the penal benchmark. The definition of attempted crime, however, is different in both countries. The common features and differences, but at the same time similar observations on anticipatory punishment in the criminal law of both countries have given rise to a joint comparative law research project. The contributions in this volume are the results of this two-year project.
