This study offers a comprehensive overview and critical assessment of the development of Hungarian penal policy from the regime change to the present day. Following a brief outline of the relevant conceptual and interpretive frameworks, we explore the main trends and structural characteristics of crime between 1988 and 2023. The analysis focuses on substantive criminal law and examines the penal policy directions of successive government cycles in light of the underlying objectives, priorities, and principles of criminal legislation. Accordingly, we provide a detailed account of the penal policy features of the 1990–1994, 1994–1998, and 1998–2002 governments, as well as those of the 2002–2010 period and the ongoing political cycle since 2010. Our interpretive framework highlights the influence of political and governmental dynamics, the degree to which rule of law standards were respected, and the relationship between academic knowledge, empirical research, and penal policymaking. Following the chronological analysis, we examine two key indicators that reflect the substance and orientation of penal policy: sentencing practices and the evolution of the prison population. In the concluding section, we address criminological and penal policy features specific to post-transition countries, with particular emphasis on the characteristics and implications of penal populism.