NCJ Number
201384
Journal
UNAFEI Newsletter Issue: 108 Dated: July 2002 Pages: 1-34
Date Published
July 2002
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This document presents training course information on the enhancement of community-based alternatives to incarceration.
Abstract
The course took place from May 20 to July 11, 2002, and involved Japanese, Asian, Caribbean, African, and Middle Eastern participants. They included police, public prosecutors, judges, correctional officers, probation officers, and other high-ranking public officials. Despite international efforts to develop the use of community-based alternatives to incarceration, many countries have seen their prison populations increase. This has been particularly noticed in the Asia-Pacific region. The need to reduce prison populations is reinforced by an increasingly accepted notion that unless offenders need to be separated from society then they should be placed on community programs that provide more effective rehabilitation and use available resources more efficiently. Measures to implement and improve community-based alternatives to incarceration at all stages of the criminal justice process were examined during the 8 week period. This was accomplished through comparative analysis of the current situation, possibilities and problems encountered in community-based alternatives, and an examination of the availability and utilization of such alternatives. Among the obstacles to the development and further adoption of community-based alternatives might be the lack of support and understanding of the criminal justice practitioners. Scarcity of resources is also a problem in terms of both funds and personnel. The many forms of community-based alternatives are community service, probation or other forms of supervision in the community, conditional sentences that allow offenders to serve their sentences in the community with certain conditions such as obtaining treatment for drug problems, fines, restitution, electronic monitoring, and conditional release such as parole. Examples of innovative community-based alternatives under way in some countries are the restorative justice approach and community diversion programs. Participants were offered the opportunity to share experiences and views on the challenges they face in the course of adopting community-based alternatives to incarceration.