Showing papers in "European journal of probation in 2012"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that recall practices need to be understood not as a technical corner of the justice system, but as part of a wider analysis of the politics of sentencing and release policy.
Abstract: This article seeks to explain the reasons for the sharp rise in prison recall rates in Scotland. It argues that recall practices need to be understood not as a technical corner of the justice system, but as part of a wider analysis of the politics of sentencing and release policy. While there are sound reasons for a policy of ‘early release’ (incentivizing good behavior and enabling the resettlement of prisoners), in practice early release has increasingly been used as a tool to try to limit the growth in the custodial population. Unable to control prison numbers through the ‘front door’ (judicial sentencing and bail/remand), successive governments have increasingly relied on early release as a surreptitious way of, in effect, re-sentencing prisoners. We argue that this political strategy is ultimately self-defeating, not least in feeding public cynicism about the penal system and community supervision in particular. This article reviews the changing legislative, policy and practice landscape of the regulation of non-compliance and recall practice, and draws on the desistance literature to illustrate how offender-supervisor relationships can be undermined by recall policies which threaten the legitimacy of both the supervisory relationship and the conditions of supervision orders.
24 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the recent enormous increase in the number of prisoners recalled each year to prison in England and Wales: prisoners who had previously been released, either automatically or on the direction of the Parole Board.
Abstract: This article explores the recent enormous increase in the number of prisoners recalled each year to prison in England and Wales: prisoners who had previously been released, either automatically or on the direction of the Parole Board. It explores law and practice, focusing in the analysis on pre-release processes, the process of recall and on the prisoner's journey towards re-release. Having considered the role of the Parole Board and of the executive more generally, the paper concludes that there should be a review of whether ‘sentence review courts’ would work better to encourage offenders to earn their way out of prison and off supervision.
17 citations
TL;DR: In criminal justice and sentencing, there are no formal requirements for agencies and courts to bring different principles to their decisions about foreign nationals, but in practice this group of offenders can be disadvantaged as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: There is a long tradition of blaming foreigners for crime problems in England and Wales. The contemporary manifestation of this centres on suspicion about the involvement in crime of foreign nationals and irregular migrants. General descriptive terms like foreign nationals encompass people in widely diverse circumstances and of different legal immigration statuses. Debates about crime and about the management of movement across national borders have become entangled in political debate, to the detriment of clear thinking about either matter. The rehabilitation principle has a different significance and application for foreign nationals, in practice if not in law. The limited statistics available concerning the involvement of foreign nationals in crime and their treatment by judicial and criminal justice agencies, require more analysis. In criminal justice and sentencing, there are no formal requirements for agencies and courts to bring different principles to their decisions about foreign nationals, but in practice this group of offenders can be disadvantaged. The context of offending by foreign nationals and their distinctive and individual needs are often insufficiently appreciated and too little is done to support rehabilitation and desistance. The perceived political imperative to remove foreign national offenders by deportation distorts any principled approach to policy and practice.
15 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that there is a link between late modernity and increasing punitivism in Norway, that the main cause of the comparative "uniqueness" of Norway is its low rates of inequality and that cultural explanations, though relevant, are secondary.
Abstract: In The Culture of Control, Garland (2001) suggests that whilst not inevitable, it is likely that late modern societies will experience increased punitivism. Certain critics have questioned to what extent Scandinavian countries should be included in that assumption, given their unique welfare systems and public/media reactions to crime, and this article comments on one in particular – Green (2008), in a comparison of child murder by children in England and Norway. We argue that punitivism is indeed increasing in Norway along the lines already identified in Anglo-American countries, albeit at the slower rate acknowledged by Green. However, the relevant benchmark for testing Garland’s thesis is not only to compare between countries but also to look for changes within countries. We argue that there is a link between late modernity and increasing punitivism in Norway, that the main cause of the comparative ‘uniqueness’ of Norway is its low rates of inequality and that ‘cultural’ explanations, though relevant, are secondary.
15 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the consequences of these reforms for two of these parties: the justice assistants, who struggle to keep their professional discretion in the decision to recall, and prisoners, who increasingly turn away from conditional release, thus avoiding recall to prison altogether.
Abstract: Following the Dutroux case in 1996, the Belgian parole system was thoroughly reformed in 1998 and 2006. Decision-making was transferred from the Minister of Justice to multidisciplinary “Sentence Implementation Courts”, supervision and follow up of conditionally released prisoners was tightened and the proportion of recalls increased. Recall of conditional release hence results from the interaction between three main parties: the offender, the supervising probation officer (“justice assistant” in Belgium) and the Sentence Implementation Court who takes the final decision. This paper looks into the consequences of these reforms for two of these parties: the justice assistants, who struggle to keep their professional discretion in the decision to recall, and prisoners, who increasingly turn away from conditional release, thus avoiding recall to prison altogether.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report some final results of a recent research on the possible application of electronic monitoring as an alternative to pre-trial detention in Belgium, and report that almost 40% of the current population consisting of prisoners in remand custody.
Abstract: Prison overcrowding is a major problem in the Belgian criminal justice system, with almost 40% of the current population consisting of prisoners in remand custody. Driven by a goal of prison overcrowding prevention, electronic monitoring has been implemented nationally since 2000, but only as an alternative to the execution of the entire or a part of the prison sentence imposed. This article aims to report some final results of a recent research on the possible application of electronic monitoring as an alternative to pre-trial detention in Belgium.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the meaning, use and importance of the reintegration principle with regard to the early release from prison of foreign prisoners without a legal permit of residence.
Abstract: Since the eighties, Belgium faces an increasing number of foreign prisoners. Accordingly, the number of foreign prisoners without a legal permit of residence, who are incarcerated in Belgian prisons due to (suspicion of) violation of the Belgian Criminal law is also rising. With regard to early release, all prisoners fall under the Belgian penitentiary Acts of 2005 and 2006 in which „reintegration‟ is an important leading principle. However, a considerable part of the foreign prisoners without a legal permit of residence is exposed to expulsion under the Belgian Act of 1980 on the entry, stay, settlement and expulsion of foreigners after their (early) release. The use of different legal frameworks with conflicting rationales with regard to release from prison has consequences for the possibilities to prepare the reintegration of foreign prisoners without residence permit. The aim of this article is to analyse the meaning, use and importance of the reintegration principle with regard to the early release from prison of foreign prisoners without a legal permit of residence. The consequences of the interaction of requirements from immigration and penitentiary laws with regard to their release in society will be discussed. Also some statistical data on the presence of foreign prisoners without a legal permit of residence in the Belgian prisons are presented and commented from a methodological point of view.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an overview of the extent to which rehabilitation instruments and opportunities are accessible for irregular migrants who are serving a criminal sanction in the Netherlands is provided. But irregular migrants are largely excluded from criminal sanctions that have rehabilitation as a central aim and from rehabilitation opportunities that are provided during the implementation of criminal sanctions.
Abstract: This contribution provides an overview of the extent to which rehabilitation instruments and opportunities are accessible for irregular migrants who are serving a criminal sanction in the Netherlands. It shows that irregular migrants are largely excluded from criminal sanctions that have rehabilitation as a central aim and from rehabilitation opportunities that are provided during the implementation of criminal sanctions. These findings raise questions concerning the legal legitimacy of largely excluding irregular migrants from rehabilitation opportunities and the way in which irregular migrants prepare themselves for their return to society in practice.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a review of the French system of recall, arguing that a great deal of discretion is left to judges, particularly those responsible for sentence enforcement, and that non-compliance may soon become a political issue.
Abstract: This article reviews the French system of recall: paradoxically, for a system tightly bound by complex rules, a great deal of discretion is left to judges (particularly those responsible for sentence enforcement). Building on the initial findings from her current research, the author argues that juges d'application des peines generally have a rehabilitative approach to sanctioning non-compliance, for example, taking offenders' personal circumstances and individual ‘merit’ seriously. She fears that non-compliance may soon become a political issue.
8 citations
TL;DR: Developing the rehabilitation idea and organizing better its elaboration becomes even more difficult but also more imperative for the penitentiary policy of the country.
Abstract: Prisoners’ rehabilitation is not explicitly included in the basic principles of Greek Penitentiary Code; though, it is adopted in several articles of this Code, as well as in other relevant national legislation and international binding legal instruments. In a country where the number of the irregular migrants 1 is estimated circa half a million persons and the proportion of aliens in prisons has climbed above 50% of the total number of prison population during the last years, the challenged issue of the rehabilitation effort especially for irregular migrants, during the execution of criminal sanctions and after their release from prisons, becomes a statistically crucial reality that must be managed effectively. We cannot talk about prisoners’ rehabilitation, if we are going to ignore and exclude the most numerous group of them out of the whole effort and procedure. Under this perspective, developing the rehabilitation idea and organizing better its elaboration becomes even more difficult but also more imperative for the penitentiary policy of the country.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address a simple question: what have researchers in the United States and other countries learned about probation performance generally and the effectiveness of specific probation practices in particular, and the implications for an emerging desistance-based probation paradigm are considered.
Abstract: This paper addresses a simple question: what have researchers in the United States and other countries learned about probation performance generally and the effectiveness of specific probation practices in particular? While the „science‟ derived from the evaluation studies is still weak, it has been argued that probation could be organized along three risk dimensions, targeting high-risk times, high-risk offenders and high-risk locations. Research examining these risk dimensions is presented here, and the implications for an emerging desistance-based probation paradigm are considered
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how early conditional release measures for offenders are revoked in Spain, paying special attention to the criteria and the procedures legally established, and discuss relevant statistics and case law on this subject.
Abstract: In this article we examine how early conditional release measures for offenders are revoked in Spain. For this purpose we analyse the legal framework of revocation, paying special attention to the criteria and the procedures legally established. We also take a look to the practice of revocation by discussing relevant statistics and the case law on this subject. Finally, we raise some critical points on the Spanish system of revocation suggesting some changes inspired by the principle of revocation as a last resort.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at different forms of social exclusion, as possible catalysts of male recidivism in Romania, and demonstrate that social exclusion was experienced by recidivists in different ways, favouring the perpetration of antisocial acts.
Abstract: Based on Becker’s conceptualization of deviance, the phenomena of labeling and stigmatization of people who commit antisocial acts will result in their social marginalization and exclusion, which may result in relapse into criminal behavior. By the means of qualitative research, this paper looks at different forms of social exclusion, as possible catalysts of male recidivism in Romania. Turning away from the perspective that the offender alone is responsible for the acts he committed and for his own rehabilitation, the authors demonstrate that social exclusion was experienced by recidivists in different ways, favouring the perpetration of antisocial acts. The identified spheres of social exclusion that mainly need to be targeted by social policies and social assistance are: employment, housing, family relationships and social networks.
TL;DR: In Germany there are diverse conditions for conditional release from prison or so-called measures for rehabilitation and security such as preventive detention or placement of mentally disturbed offenders in a psychiatric institution.
Abstract: In Germany there are diverse conditions for conditional release from prison or so-called measures for rehabilitation and security such as preventive detention or placement of mentally disturbed offenders in a psychiatric institution. Prisoners can be released early: in case of good prognosis, the remainder of the sentence is suspended conditionally. This article focuses on legal procedures which allow the revocation of this decision. Special emphasis is given to recall practices.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors deal with the sentence feasibility with a special focus on electronic monitoring and test the "six month limit" idea among practitioners, before the Prison Law was implemented, to determine whether they tailored their decisions accordingly; how they initially welcomed the reform and in particular whether they thought that a two years "mesure sous ecrou" was feasible; lastly, whether they had actually implemented the new two year limit and whether this had had an effect on how they perceived the six month absolute maximum.
Abstract: This paper deals with the sentence feasibility with a special focus on electronic monitoring. The purposes of this research were first to test the ‘six month limit’ idea amongst practitioners, before the Prison Law was implemented; second to determine whether they tailored their decisions accordingly; third, how they initially welcomed the reform and in particular whether they thought that a two years ‘mesure sous ecrou’ was feasible; lastly, whether they had actually implemented the new two year limit and whether this had had an effect on how they perceived the six month absolute maximum. The conclusions put forward some reasons for this limit from the professional's point of view.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The authors explored legal and practical aspects of parole revocation in Slovenia, the role of the judiciary, the attitudes to revocation of the parole shaped by Slovenia's legal culture, and possible reasons for the rarity of parole being revoked in Slovenian penal practice.
Abstract: While many EU countries are seeing an increase in the number of prisoners being recalled to prison from release on parole, Slovenia presents an exception: although the Slovenian system does legislate for revoking parole the measure is hardly ever used in practice. This article explores legal and practical aspects of parole revocation in Slovenia, the role of the judiciary, the attitudes to revocation of the parole shaped by Slovenia's legal culture, and possible reasons for the rarity of parole being revoked in Slovenian penal practice.
TL;DR: The Italian penitentiary system is currently undergoing a serious crisis mainly caused by prison overcrowding as mentioned in this paper, and reform of the system is thus urgently needed, among other objectives, at strengthening the role of the bodies which are involved in the different phases of recall (e.g., social services, prison staff, etc.).
Abstract: Italian law only provides the general conditions for the institution of recall. It follows that significant discretionary powers are enjoyed by the surveillance judges (and in particular by the Surveillance Tribunal) who evaluate on a case-by-case basis whether the commission of another offence or the infringement of parole conditions demonstrate the offenders‟ negative attitude to reintegrate into society. However, especially with reference to the commission of serious crimes, the judges‟ discretionary assessment can result in a restrictive application of the law on recall with the consequence that parolees are returned to prison even when they commit minor violations. The Italian penitentiary system is currently undergoing a serious crisis mainly caused by prison overcrowding. This article argues that reform of the system is thus urgently needed. Such reform should be aimed, among other objectives, at strengthening the role of the bodies which are involved in the different phases of recall (e.g. social services, prison staff, etc.), in order to assist and support judges in their difficult task of decision making in an area – such that of recall – full of social implication.
TL;DR: Pratt, 2008: 120 as discussed by the authors argues that the low prison rates and relatively human prison conditions in the Nordic countries lend support to the idea that Scandinavian countries escape somehow from the global trends towards more punitive mood.
Abstract: Increasingly after the 90s scholars acknowledge a major shift in the crime control industry. This post-welfare or late modernity approach is characterized by populism, punitivism, high prison rates, extended community control and so on (see for instance Garland, 2001). Although these observations are based mainly on the US or UK experience they are understood as global trends in the penal policy and practice. Starting from these premises, John Pratt published an award winning two-part article in the British Journal of Criminology (2008 a, b) where he describes the Nordic countries as having a different ‘culture of control’ and therefore he calls the phenomenon as ‘Scandinavian exceptionalism’. Briefly, in the first part, he argues that the low prison rates and the relatively human prison conditions in the Scandinavian countries lend support to the idea that Scandinavian countries escape somehow from the global trends towards more punitive mood. He goes on to explain that this resistance is due to the ‘highly egalitarian cultural values and social structures in these countries’ (Pratt, 2008: 120). In the second part of his paper, Pratt examines the more recent trends in penal policy in the Nordic states and notes that the same factors that contributed to the penal excesses elsewhere are now affecting the Nordic states: less confidence in experts, decline in trust in government, increase media reporting and so on. At the same time the welfare system of the Scandinavian countries is restructuring and failing to be as inclusive as it used to be in the past. These variations seem to come together with a different set of values that promote intolerance, social exclusion and populist punitivity.
TL;DR: The legal justification for the possibility to recall conditionally released prisoners is to motivate the offenders not to commit any further offences as mentioned in this paper, however, the practical implementation of recall might not sometimes prove counterproductive as regards this special preventative aspect.
Abstract: The legal justification for the possibility to recall conditionally released is to motivate the offenders not to commit any further offences. This article discusses whether the practical implementation of recall might not sometimes prove counterproductive as regards this special preventative aspect. Additionally, the extraordinarily important role of the staff of the probation service in the support of the released offender outside prison is emphasized. The probation service also has a key role when it comes to deciding upon ordering recall.