NCJ Number
155306
Date Published
1995
Length
205 pages
Annotation
These reports address the range of therapeutic, social welfare, and support interventions that have developed over recent years and continue to expand.
Abstract
The conference papers assessed, in the context of existing empirical research and clinical experience, the objectives, the general concepts, and the patterns of these interventions, their unexpected consequences, and the rights of the persons concerned, as well as the ethical and professional problems involved. The conference emphasized that the recourse to and the implementation of psychosocial interventions should be guided by respect for fundamental legal safeguards as contained in the European Convention on Human Rights, and, in particular, by the common principles regarding penal policy among member states of the Council of Europe as set out in the European Prison Rules and in the European Rules on Community Sanctions and Measures. The conference also provided sufficient evidence to warrant a greater investment in research to evaluate psychosocial interventions. Particularly, the conference recommends that the Council of Europe take initiative to promote analyses of what mediation schemes provide and evaluations of their contributions within and outside the criminal justice system. Further, the Council should conduct research on the contents of and processes involved in psychosocial interventions, particularly social learning programs, so as to evaluate both positive and negative factors and outcomes. Also, more research should be undertaken on the processes that lead to offenders refraining from crime or relapsing into recidivism.