Transferring community sentences to other countries: does it work?

Five years ago offenders were given the right to serve a community sentence, that was imposed in another European jurisdiction, in their own country. How does it work? We asked Gerry McNally, Assistant Director of Operations at the Irish Probation Service and since recently CEP President. “I believe that as more and more people in criminal justice systems in Europe get acquainted with the idea that transferring probation measures within Europe benefits both the individual offenders as the communities they live in, the Framework Decision 947 will be used more and more.”

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Conferences you shouldn´t miss

CJP experts seminar on the Victims Directive
(23 February, Brussels)

On 23 February 2017  the partners of the Criminal Justice Platform, EuroPris, EFRJ and CEP, organine an experts seminar on the implementation of the Victims’ Directive Brussels. The common theme, bringing together the Victims’ Directive and the interests of different organisations working in the criminal justice field, is ‘Training of professionals and cooperation in the framework of Art 25 and 26 of the Victims’ Directive‘.

Liase 2 seminar: Prevention of radicalisation in the context of probation and prison (29 March, The Hague)

The third LIAISE 2 seminar, co-organised by Efus and the Confederation of European Probation (CEP) and hosted by the city of The Hague (NL), will address the existing challenges and opportunities for these partnerships between local authorities and judicial actors in the area of the prevention of radicalisation and reoffending.

Technology in Corrections Conference
(15-17 May 2017, Prague)

CEP in co-operation with EuroPris and ICPA will organise the second conference on Technology in Corrections on 15-17 May 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic.

The theme of this year is: Challenges for the Future.

Conference on Youth and Young adult offenders
(7-8 June Barcelona)

On 7-8 June 2017 CEP will organize a conference on Young adult offenders, as a follow-up of the very successful one in Lillestrom, Norway, 31 August-1 September 2016.

This time the event will take place in Barcelona and treat further into deep the aspects that come up and occur when working with Youth and Young adult offenders.

 
CEP Expert Meeting on the implementation of the Framework Decisions

As a followup to the expert meeting in August 2015, CEP invited Experts on Framework Decisions, Members of the European Commission, European policy makers, representatives of EU member States and other interested parties to discuss the state of play regarding FD 2008/JHA/947 and FD 2009/JHA/829 in order to support and promote the implementation of the Framework Decisions throughout Europe and make recommendations/actions on how to enhance their implementation: “what works, what doesn’t work and what needs to be done”.


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System Maps – Uploading Underway

By Tony Grapes

Getting a quick fix on the probation arrangements in another European country can be a tortuous business. You could read the “Probation In Europe” chapter in the CEP handbook.  But most span over 50 pages of text.  You could look at the SPACE II Report.   But you’d have to wade through 94 pages of tables and notes to get the data on just one country.  The database of Alternative Sentences and Measures gives you an account of the available probation-type sentences, but it’s essentially a lawyers’ document, and the World Prison Brief is a reliable snapshot, but only of prison populations.  You can find out about Community Service, or electronic monitoring, but nowhere is there an easily-accessible general probation overview all in one place.

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FRA Report: Criminal detention and alternatives: fundamental rights aspects in EU cross-border transfers

EU Member States have largely implemented, and started applying, three instruments on transferring prison sentences, probation measures and alternative sanctions, as well as pre-trial supervision measures, to other Member States. The European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)  published a report that provides an overview of their first experiences with these measures, highlighting both best practices and shortcomings.

The report also scrutinises the use of detention in the EU, as well as available alternatives, including with respect to individuals in situations of vulnerability. Taking into consideration the rights of suspects, accused and sentenced persons and the rights of crime victims, as well as the interests of society as a whole, the report offers a timely and comprehensive assessment of the instruments’ potential from a fundamental rights perspective.

Here you can download the report.

Here you can download the final report from the FRA Conference on cross-border justice.

 

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