FOREWORD

This thematic issue<fnref n="1" /> of the journal *Acta Universitatis Carolinae* appears in the series Studia Sociologica and has a specific focus. It tackles the topical questions of criminological research in the Czech Republic. Its modest ambition is to show the reader the state of Czech criminology. We realize that the results presented here are just part of the general view and the articles selected represent almost exclusively the projects being dealt with at the Department of Sociology of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. On the other hand, it may be said that none of them has a locally or regionally limited character: Most of the results are part of important international projects, such as ISRD, IVAWS or Eurojustis. Thus, the reader can be sure that he or she will easily find broader and relevant theoretical and analytical frameworks when employing our research results. It was not our intention to present merely an obligatory and informative study, such as a national story about Czech criminology that the reader will skim through and put down. Should Czech criminology develop successfully, it must point to comparative projects and broad international collaboration. From this point of view, this collection also aims to provide our postgraduate students with access to the scene to show their readiness and talent.

The introductory review paper representing Czech criminology is a study by M. Scheinost, Director of Institute of Criminology and Crime Prevention in Prague. It is devoted to the history of Czech criminology and makes comments on its actual institutional state. The article by J. Buriánek summarizes the experience of the transformation of Czech society after 1989, highlighting public opinion. It shows crime rates trends and the impacts on the fear of crime. The number of people who did not feel safe was increasing at first but then decreased due to the growing number of corruption complaints. In spite of that, public opinion is rather stable now, a phenomenon analytically dealt with by P. Homolová in her study on trust in institutions. Among other things, her article indicates that the first reaction to T. Tyler's conception took place in our research as early as the late 1990s.

Two other articles use data from an ISRD project currently under way, but the reports concern somewhat different project phases. The first paper, authored by Z. Podaná and E. Moravcová, is based on the first data processing on youth delinquency in the Czech

<footnote n="1">¹ Most of the papers in this volume represent a grant scheme of Charles University PRVOUK 07 as part of the sub-project "Sociology of lifestyle, actors and institutions". However, the data analyzed here were often collected thanks to some other grant agencies that shall be named separately.</footnote>
Republic. It offers quite novel and significant information. As a matter of fact, the Czech Republic was among the first countries to collect relevant data. The article by E. Moravcová, dealing with participation in a gang, in a sense completes her long-time interest in the topic by offering deep methodological insight into the problem. The study by S. Pi-kalková represents some aspects related to victim issues of our research lines, especially a grant project dealing with intimate partner violence. Basic information on the victims of home violence against women is excerpted from the latest data with the aim of dem-onstrating developments over the last 10 years.

Because this volume devoted exclusively to criminology is the first one to appear in this series, we can hope that it will trigger a new series of criminological studies, which in the future could provide a platform for authors from other institutes in the Czech Republic as well as contributors from abroad. The subjects presented offer a number of opportunities to work on separate, bilateral research or publishing projects. For these reasons we will appreciated if our editorial move goes over the limit of Czech criminol-ogy as occasionally presented at the ESC Prague 2014 annual conference. After all, the fact that Czech criminology has been assigned this task can be taken as its contribution to international collaboration and a challenge for its further development.

Jiří Buriánek