NCJ Number
175082
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 61 Issue: 2 Dated: June 1997 Pages: 69-73
Date Published
1997
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Alternatives to incarceration in Denmark are discussed, based on a 1996 field study that included visits to Danish probation offices, halfway houses, the community service program, and prison.
Abstract
Results revealed that rates of offenses other than theft are considerably lower in Denmark than in the United States. Denmark also has less punitive corrections policies than the United States; its prison population in 1990 was 66 per 100,000 population, compared to 459 per 100,000 in the United States. Denmark also places greater emphasis on humane conditions in prisons than does the United States. Halfway houses offer residential living in the community for offenders completing the last 3 months of a prison service. Four principles guide the Danish probation service: early assistance, proximity, continuity, and coordination. Probation officers generally agree that the emotionally disturbed offender is the most difficult. For offenders involved in community service orders, probation officers determine the setting, develop a plan, and checks on the offender's completion of the tasks. Probation officers are mostly female and handle smaller caseloads than probation officers in the United States. They also tend to be optimistic and confident in their ability to make a difference with the probationers they supervise; they are less cynical and less jaded than their American counterparts about the prospect of helping probationers to adjust to society. 10 references