International Summaries: Alternatives to Imprisonment -- A Comparative Study of the Use of Alternatives to Imprisonment in the Member States of the Council of Europe

• NCJ Number: 114272
• Author(s): P J P Tak
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 4 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: NIJ/NCJRS international summary of "Community Service as an Alternative to the Prison Sentence," Alternatives to Imprisonment, by Peter J.P. Tak, 1987, NCJ-106192.

Annotation

A 1976 resolution of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has led the council's member countries to propose or enact legislation implementing alternatives to imprisonment, especially the community service order.

Abstract

The resolution was prompted by the realization that short-term imprisonment was being widely used for misdemeanors and other minor offenses, despite recognition of its harmful effects on offenders and efforts to promote alternative sanctions. Nearly all European countries are facing a shortage of prison capacity and have tried to increase capacity by various methods including automating the administration of the prison system, constructing or reopening prisons, granting general amnesties or pardons, double-celling inmates, increasing the use of conditional release, and reducing sentences for property offenses. During the last decade many countries have introduced the community service order, either as a principal sentence or as a condition under a suspended or conditional sentence. Both the idea and its implementation have varied somewhat in different countries. However, the successful implementation of this sanction requires a well-reasoned statutory regulation and a carefully prepared infrastructure.