A/CONF.234/9

United Nations

Fourteenth
United Nations Congress
on Crime Prevention andCriminal JusticeDistr.: General
3 February 2020

Original: English

Kyoto, Japan, 20–27 April 2020
Item 4 of the provisional agenda*
Integrated approaches to challenges facing thecriminal justice system

Workshop 2. Reducing reoffending: identifying
risks and developing solutions ∗∗Background paper prepared by the Secretariat

Summary∗**

Reducing reoffending is critical to building inclusive, sustainable
societies as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development. To reduce reoffending effectively, criminal justicesystems must prioritize offender rehabilitation and social reintegration.
The background paper explores the creation of rehabilitative prison
environments, the adoption and implementation of community-based
approaches that contribute to reducing reoffending, and multistakeholder approaches that ensure continuous support and services foroffender social reintegration, as solutions to reduce reoffending.

A/CONF.234.1.
The Secretariat wishes to express its appreciation to the members of the United Nations
crime prevention and criminal justice programme network of institutes, especially the
Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders,
for assisting in the preparation and organization of the workshop.

- 5- -5 -I. Introduction
1.
Sustainable Development Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development (General Assembly resolution 70/1) is topromote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development,
provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable andinclusive institutions at all levels. To achieve this goal, it is importantfor criminal justice authorities to take measures that ensure therehabilitation and reintegration of offenders into society as productive
and law-abiding citizens. Reoffending 1 refers to the perpetration of a
new criminal offence by a person who has already been the subject of acriminal justice intervention. Although reliable global statistics onreoffending rates are currently not available, both developed anddeveloping countries experience reoffending. Reducing reoffending
leads to fewer victims, greater community safety and less pressure on,
and lower costs for, the criminal justice system. To reduce reoffending,there must be effective offender rehabilitation and social reintegration
practices in prison, in the community and throughout the offender’s timein contact with the criminal justice system. Yet seamless andrehabilitative interventions cannot be accomplished by criminal justiceauthorities alone. It is imperative that criminal justice authorities
develop robust partnerships with various public and private sector
stakeholders, engaging them throughout the process towards theoffender’s social reintegration.
2.
The United Nations standards and norms in the field of crime
prevention and criminal justice recognize and encourage rehabilitative
approaches. The revised United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for
the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) (General
Assembly resolution 70/175, annex), in particular, highlight the fact thatthe purposes of imprisonment, namely, “to protect society against crime
and to reduce recidivism”, can only be achieved if the period of
imprisonment is used to ensure the reintegration of offenders into
society upon release, so that they can lead a law-abiding and selfsupporting life. The Rules recognize the necessity to tailor treatment to
the individual needs of offenders by assessing the risks that prisoners
may pose and the needs that they may have and preparing a programmeof treatment suitable to their needs, capacities and dispositions. With
regard to offenders with special needs, in particular women andjuveniles, careful individual assessments taking account of those needs
should be undertaken, and specific rehabilitation and reintegration
programmes should be developed, as emphasized in the United Nations
Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial
Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) (Assembly
resolution 65/229, annex) and the United Nations Rules for theProtection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (Assembly resolution
45/113, annex). Similarly, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules
for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules) (Assembly resolution
45/110, annex) promote the use of non-custodial measures, such asprobation, parole and fines, and emphasize the importance of theinvolvement of volunteers and other community resources in theprocess of offender rehabilitation and reintegration.
3.
In practice, rehabilitative responses should be based on reliable
empirical evidence. This evidence base, which incorporates themonitoring, measuring and evaluation of programmes, should serve to
1

The term “reoffending”, a synonym of “recidivism”, has been used in the present paper inline with the wording used by the General Assembly in its resolution 72/192 for the topic
of the workshop.

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plan and improve future interventions. Significant research has been
dedicated to the development of empirical tools to identify appropriate
treatment goals and improve the effectiveness of rehabilitation andreintegration. In particular, the risk-needs-responsivity 2 framework
identifies dynamic risk factors associated with reoffending, also
referred to as “criminogenic needs”, that must be addressed bytreatment. In addition to risks and needs, the framework also
encompasses “responsivity”, which considers the elements that have an
impact on treatment effectiveness, such as how and in what context it isdelivered, and the motivation, characteristics and situation of theoffenders. Cognitive behavioural therapy has been identified as one of
the most effective treatment measures from the standpoint ofresponsivity. Similarly, the desistance theory emphasizes the provisionof support to offenders “to see themselves in a new [and more positive]
light”, 3 encouraging them to find hope for the future and helping themto build new prosocial identities by focusing on family relationships andemployment.
4.
The United Nations standards and norms and collective
professional knowledge gained through practice have brought forth thefollowing important issues that bear consideration:(a) It is well known that imprisonment alone is insufficient toprevent reoffending and that it has a large adverse effect on social
reintegration prospects caused by stigmatization, restricted contacts
with the outside world, including the offender’s family, and the risk ofinstitutionalization, that is, the risk for people to spend long periods oftime in prison and to develop deficits in their social and life skills. Thus,
imprisonment should be imposed as a measure of “last resort”, without
prejudice to the principle of proportionality, the protection of society
and the rights of the victims;(b) Imprisonment can have a positive impact on reducing
reoffending, in that imprisonment can be the “hook for change” 4 in the
lives of offenders if the prison environment is appropriate and if prison
administrations follow a rehabilitative approach to prison management
compliant with human rights standards;(c) The use of imprisonment as the “default option” 5 leads toprison overcrowding, which continues to undermine severely proper
prison management, and thus has a negative impact on the quality andquantity of rehabilitative interventions in prisons;James Bonta and D. A. Andrews, The Psychology of Criminal Conduct, 6th ed. (NewYork, Routledge, 2017).
3
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Introductory Handbook on thePrevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders, Criminal JusticeHandbook Series (Vienna, 2018), p. 8.
4
Peggy C. Giordano, Stephen A. Cernkovich and Jennifer L. Rudolph, “Gender, crime,and desistance: toward a theory of cognitive transformation”, American Journal of
Sociology,
vol. 107, No. 4 (January 2002), pp. 990–1064.
5
Matti Joutsen, “International patterns in the use of community-based sanctions”, paper
presented at the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Seminar of the United Nations Standard
Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures, held by the Asia and Far East Institute for
the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Tokyo, from 7 to 9 September
2015. “Throughout the world, imprisonment has solidified its position as the main
punishment imposed for medium-level and more serious offences, and as the ‘default
option’ against which other sanctions are compared. The assumption that imprisonment
fulfils the various functions of punishment and thus is suitable for medium-level andmore serious offences has resulted in a general growth in the number of prisoners.”
2

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(d) Community-based treatment, as compared to imprisonment,
is more cost-effective and better supports the social reintegration of
offenders, as it enables offenders to benefit from necessaryinterventions and support while maintaining their lives in thecommunity and avoiding social barriers stemming frominstitutionalization;(e) The overuse of non-custodial measures, as well as their use
without appropriate community support, can lead to “mass supervision”
and “net widening”, whereby the number of persons controlled by thecriminal justice system increases. 6 The excessive use of supervision for
low-risk offenders may increase the reoffending risk, owing to
unnecessary interventions; 7(f) Interventions and support must be gender-responsive andtailored to each offender’s individual risk and needs, which need to becontinuously assessed and reassessed;(g) Preparation for re-entry into society should commence inprison, and interventions should continue until a successful
reintegration is completed;(h) In the pursuit of rehabilitative goals, multi-stakeholder
involvement is indispensable.
5.
Reducing reoffending is critical to building inclusive, sustainable
societies as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda. To reduce reoffending
effectively, criminal justice systems must prioritize offender
rehabilitation and social reintegration by creating rehabilitative prison
environments, adopting and implementing community-based
approaches that contribute to reducing reoffending and taking a
multifaceted,multi-stakeholder approach.

II. Crime prevention and criminal justice issues,policies and practices to reduce reoffendingA.

Creating rehabilitative prison environments
6.
Rehabilitative prison environments are necessary for the
successful rehabilitation and reintegration of incarcerated offenders.
Prisoners in facilities affected by high levels of violence, rampant druguse, organized crime, violent extremist ideologies and human rights
abuses will find it difficult, if not impossible, to start their paths towarddesistance from crime 8 and rehabilitation. Prison environments plagued
See, for example, Fergus McNeill and Kristel Beyens, “Offender supervision in Europe:
COST Action IS1106–final report” (March 2016), p. 2; Michelle S. Phelps, “Massprobation and inequality: race, class, and gender disparities in supervision andrevocation”, in Handbook on Punishment Decisions: Locations of Disparity, vol. 2,
Jeffery T. Ulmer and Mindy S. Bradley, eds. (New York, Routledge, 2018), pp. 45–47;
Marcelo F. Aebi, Natalia Delgrande and Yann Marguet, “Have community sanctions andmeasures widened the net of the European criminal justice systems?”, Punishment andSociety, vol. 17, No.5 (November 2015), pp. 589–590.
7See, for example, James Bonta, Suzanne Wallace-Capretta and Jennifer Rooney, “A
quasi-experimental evaluation of an intensive rehabilitation supervision program”,
Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 27, No. 3 (June 2000), pp. 312, 314 (“The risk
principle suggests that the intensity of treatment should be matched to the risk level of theoffender. That is, low-risk offenders require few (or no) services, and higher risk
offenders require intensive levels of service.”).
8“Desistance” is a term used in criminology to refer to the cessation of criminal behaviour.
6

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by overcrowding and corruption are guaranteed to exacerbate criminal
tendencies among prisoners, increasing their risk of reoffending upon
release. The emerging threat of violent extremism in prison andcorrectional settings has often been met with attempts to introduce
highly specialized counter-terrorism strategies and initiatives forviolent extremist prisoners. However, it is often overlooked that, forsuch strategies and initiatives to be effective, they need to be built on
stable, sound and well-run prison management systems, which arecompromised in many countries. 9
7.
Estimates suggest that there were more than 11 million people inprison globally in 2018, including both pretrial and sentenced
prisoners. 10 Prison overcrowding remains one of the greatest challenges
that stand in the way of creating rehabilitative prison environments,
with the number of prisoners exceeding the official prison capacity in
121 countries. 11 In overcrowded facilities, there is no capacity, in termsof space, infrastructure and human resources, to provide prisoners with
tailor-made interventions, treatment and support. Also worrying is thetrend towards harsher sentencing policies and long-term sentences. The
number of persons sentenced to life imprisonment increased by almost
84 per cent between 2000 and 2014, and an estimated 479,000 persons
are currently serving formal life sentences worldwide, which poses
fundamental questions about their treatment and rehabilitation
prospects, as well as challenges to manage and care for people who areageing and dying in prison.
8.
Some countries are prioritizing efforts to reduce overcrowding. In
response to prison overcrowding, Kazakhstan thus drastically reduced
its imprisonment rate to 194 prisoners per 100,000 people and closed
eight prisons. 12 This was achieved through justice reform driven bystrong political will, reducing the length of prison terms and increasing
the use of non-custodial sanctions for minor offences.
9.
Lack of access to legal representation and inability to pay
monetary bail are closely linked with poverty and result in excessive
pretrial detention and imprisonment. To ensure equal access to a fairjustice system and the elimination of unnecessary pretrial detention,
criminal justice systems should enhance, inter alia, the offenders’unrestricted access to a legal advisor, including through adequate legal
aid mechanisms, fair bail practices, the use of proper offender file
management and, resource permitting, electronic monitoring.
10. Corruption and violence inside prison environments 13 also
undermine the implementation of rehabilitative approaches.
Transparency and accountability in prisons can be ensured through strict
adherence to all safeguards outlined in the Nelson Mandela Rules,
including internal and external monitoring and inspection schemes, aswell as external investigations into all cases of torture or otherill-treatment, death in custody, disappearance or serious injury,
conducted by an authority independent of the prison or corrections
administration. The Federal Penitentiary Service of Argentina has taken
UNODC, Handbook on the Management of Violent Extremist Prisoners and thePrevention of Radicalization to Violence in Prisons, Criminal Justice Handbook Series(Vienna, 2016).
10
Ibid., p. 2.
11
Roy Walmsley, “World prison population list”, 12th ed. (London, World Prison Brief,
Institute for Criminal Policy Research, Birkbeck, University of London, 2018).
12
Yerbolat Uatkhanov, “Kazakhstan’s prison population drops dramatically in criminal
justice reform breakthrough”, Astana Times, 17 February 2018.
13
UNODC, Handbook on Anti-Corruption Measures in Prisons, Criminal JusticeHandbook Series (Vienna, 2017).
9

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steps to tackle corruption through preventive and punitive approaches,such as the creation of the Corruption Prevention Service, a complaint
hotline, whistle-blower protection rules, staff training and monitoringand inspection services.
11. Prisoners face a range of social, economic and personal challenges
that tend to complicate significantly their social reintegration, such as ahistory of social isolation and marginalization, physical and emotional
trauma or abuse, physical or mental disabilities, poor interpersonal
skills or low levels of education, among many others. Simply putting
offenders in prison does not prevent them from reoffending, nor does it
facilitate their rehabilitation, in particular if imprisonment fails to
address their needs. Without effective programmes to help offenders toface their multiple challenges, the likelihood of their successful social
reintegration is very poor. Institutional programmes and interventions
designed to prepare offenders for social reintegration include tailoredphysical and mental health-care interventions, such as programmes totreat drug use disorders, sports activities, counselling, psychosocial
support, education and vocational training courses, creative and culturalactivities, work opportunities and regular access to well-stocked libraryfacilities. Within the prisoners’ rehabilitation component of the Global
Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration, the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has developed aRoadmap for the Development of Prison-based Rehabilitation
Programmes and supported Member States in the establishment orenhancement of education, vocational training and work programmes
for prisoners, with a view to their effective rehabilitation and social
reintegration. UNODC also specifically promotes gender-sensitive
prison-based rehabilitation programmes and post-release services inline with the Bangkok Rules.
12. Prisoners should be assessed as soon as possible upon admission
to prison, as treatment programmes and interventions are most effective
when they are based on such assessments and individualized treatment
plans. Individual risk and needs assessments are key components ofprisoner rehabilitation and are essential for ensuring that prisoners areallocated to facilities that are equipped to meet their education andtraining needs, taking into account social, legal, health-care and otherrehabilitation considerations. Assessments that are exclusively based on
the prisoner’s criminal offence are insufficient. Rather, some evidence
based on risk-needs-responsivity shows that specific risk and needs
factors, such as criminal history, pro-criminal attitudes, pro-criminal
associates, antisocial personality pattern, family and marital
relationships, school or work relationships and performance, substanceabuse and leisure and recreation activities, can assist in predicting future
crime and should be targeted in treatment programmes andinterventions. 14 Attention should also be given to responsivity
considerations that may influence how the correction or prison officer
will relate with the offender and supervise the case, such as motivational
barriers, denial or minimization of the offence, interpersonal anxiety,gender-specific, cultural or ethnicity issues, communication barriers,
mental disability or disorder and psychopathy. 15 In addition, researchdemonstrates that positive outcomes are more likely to be achieved
when interventions and services are based on a “strength-based”
approach to make use of “human capital”, which refers to the capacityof the individual to make changes and achieve goals, and “social
14
15

Andrews and Bonta, The Psychology of Criminal Conduct, p. 44.
D. A. Andrews, James L. Bonta and J. Stephen Wormith, “Level of Service/CaseManagement Inventory (LS/CMI)” (Toronto, Canada, Multi-Health Systems, 2004).

- 10 - 10 -

capital”, which helps offenders to address personal challenges to ensure
a successful reintegration, such as employment and family support. 16
Providing prisoners with the resources and motivation to achieve theirgoals constructively is likely to reduce their prospects of getting
involved in criminal behaviour upon release.
13. To achieve effective interventions, prisons must ensure soundprogramme delivery, good case management practices and the presenceof well-trained staff with the skills and expertise necessary to manage
and deliver the interventions. 17 Prison officers can be key players inprisoners’ rehabilitation, encouraging them to participate in educationand training activities and offering other support. Positive and prosocial
relationships between prisoner and staff are also important to thesuccess of rehabilitation. This approach is captured in the concept ofdynamic security, which focuses on the creation and maintenance bystaff of daily communication and interaction with prisoners based on
professional ethics. Creating a sound therapeutic alliance with prisoners
is a pivotal component of effective intervention. Working
collaboratively with them in developing treatment goals, displaying
empathy and warmth and offering encouragement and rewards for
progress facilitate the change process. 18 Furthermore, the capacity andwillingness of prison officers to communicate openly with prisoners, touse a non-authoritarian manner and to respond firmly and fairly are therequisite
ingredientsofappropriate
prisonmanagement.
Acknowledging the crucial role of prison officers, including withregards to fostering a rehabilitative approach to prison management,
UNODC has developed an e-learning course on the Nelson Mandela
Rules 19 tailored to prison staff and other persons working in prison. This
innovative tool couples theoretical learning with 25 interactive videos,
which were filmed in selected prison facilities in Algeria, Argentina andSwitzerland. In those scenarios, the user needs to choose among various
options on how to react to a given situation of daily prison life,
including five that address the role of prison officers in the field of
rehabilitation and social reintegration. In Kyrgyzstan, UNODC
supported prison authorities in building the capacity of prison officers
to establish prosocial relationships with violent extremist prisoners andto introduce vocational training, including for such prisoners.
14. Treatment programmes pursue the goals of desisting from crimeand achieving social preadaptation by focusing on changing offenders’attitudes and behaviours. Risk-needs-responsivity calls for the use ofcognitive behavioural techniques to influence change because they are
the most effective techniques to help offenders to develop new attitudes
and behaviours. In addition, preliminary empirical research suggeststhat the desistance approach can enhance approaches based on riskneeds-responsivity, especially in terms of improving the subject’s
engagement in treatment. 20 Cognitive behavioural therapy has a welldeveloped theoretical basis and is adaptable to a range of offenders andmany cultural and social contexts. By providing rehabilitation
Steve Pitts, “The effective resettlement of offenders by strengthening ‘community
reintegration factors’”, in Resource Material Series No. 82 (Tokyo, Asia and Far East
Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, 2010).
17
UNODC, Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism, pp. 6, 12 and 20.
18
See, for example, Tony Ward and Claire A. Stewart, “The treatment of sex offenders: risk
management and good lives”, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, vol. 34,
No. 4 (2003), pp. 353–360.
19
UNODC, UNODC Global eLearning, Public courses, “The Nelson Mandela Rules”.
Available at www.unodc.org.
20
See, for example, Theresa A. Gannon, and others, “Good Lives sexual offender treatment
for mentally disordered offenders”, British Journal of Forensic Practice, vol. 13, No. 3(August 2011), pp. 153–168.
16- 11 - 11 -

programmes, the Namibian Correctional Service not only aims to adhere
to evidence-based practice, but also aspires to address the specific needs
and characteristics of the Namibian offender population. Programmes
are tailor-made for, and respond to, the Namibian population, realities
and environment. Like most other prison-based programmes, they canalso be offered successfully in the community.
15. The fundamental aim of rehabilitation is to enable prisoners toreturn to their community with skills and attitudes that will help inpreventing reoffending. Education, vocational training and work
programmes allow prisoners to engage in constructive activities while
gaining new skills for potential future work. Many jurisdictions havemade efforts to provide vocational training, education programmes andprison employment opportunities. 21 Studies have confirmed that
prisoners who receive education and vocational training during
imprisonment are less likely to reoffend and more likely to find workthan those who do not receive such opportunities. 22 Efforts should bemade to closely link vocational training programmes to actual demandsin the outside labour market, and to implement those programmes inclose cooperation with vocational training providers in the outsidecommunity.
16. Furthermore, as indicated in the Bangkok Rules, efforts should bemade to address the special social reintegration requirements of womenand to ensure that women prisoners have access to a balanced andcomprehensive programme of activities that takes account of genderspecific needs without falling into gender stereotyping. Indeed, training
women in “feminine” occupations often limits their prospects ofobtaining well-remunerated employment after release. The UNODC
Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration has
thus supported the Plurinational State of Bolivia in providing vocational
training to women prisoners in the construction sector, giving women
prisoners a real chance to find employment upon release by training
them in a sector where their skills are in demand.
17. The more isolated and confined a prison environment is, the harder
it will be for a person to return to freedom successfully. The principleof normality (or “normalization”), 23 that is, the idea that life in prison
should be as close as possible to life in the community, is one of thecornerstones of the modern Norwegian Correctional System. Prison
authorities in Norway seek to maintain the lowest possible security level,and prisoners retain as many rights as possible within the framework ofdeprivation of liberty. During incarceration, crucial services for
reintegration are delivered to the prison by local and municipal service
providers. This means that the staff delivering medical, educational,
employment, clerical or library services are providing these services inthe same manner as they would in the community.
18. Owing to social barriers to re-entry, it is not easy for incarcerated
offenders to return to the community and restart their lives upon release.
The importance of “vocational training, education programmes and prison employment
opportunities” for offenders was observed in the report of the Asia and Pacific Regional
Preparatory Meeting for the Fourteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention
and Criminal Justice, held in Bangkok from 22 to 24 January 2019
(A/CONF.234/RPM.1/1,
para. 34 (e)).
22
Sharon Critoph, The Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration of Women Prisoners:
Implementation of the Bangkok Rules, Martha Crowley, ed. (London, Penal Reform
International and Bangkok, Thailand Institute of Justice, 2019), p. 29.
23
UNODC, Roadmap for the Development of Prison-based Rehabilitation Programmes,
Criminal Justice Handbook Series (Vienna, 2017), pp. 4–5.
21

- 12 - 12 -Continuity in interventions and support, achieved through collaboration
between prison staff and community-based treatment providers, areextremely important to facilitate rehabilitation and reduce reoffending
risks. Interventions and support in prisons should be aimed at preparing
prisoners for their return to the community. Thus, prisons should
encourage prisoners to establish and maintain regular contacts with theirfamily members or other significant others who will support them after
their release.
19. Advances in technology provide prisons with new ways ofdelivering education programmes for prisoners. The prevalence ofelectronic devices holds great promise for cost-effective prison-baseduse, including the use for videoconferencing in legal proceedings,
family visits and medical consultations. The use of videoconferencing
should not, however, replace face-to-face meetings, as this would becontrary to the principle of normalization and further reduce a prisoner’s
contact with the outside world. In Singapore, the use of videocounselling is being explored, and a mobile application to help former
offenders to reintegrate has been created. 24 In Kyrgyzstan, with
UNODC support, the Skype application is used for some family visits
to reduce the financial and travel burdens for those living far away.

B.

Community-based approaches that contribute to
reducing reoffending
20. Community-based approaches, including non-custodial measuresand restorative justice processes, can effectively reduce reoffending by
ensuring that offenders receive appropriate support and, when necessary,treatment, which maximizes the opportunities for them to live
productive and independent lives as responsible members of society. In
many countries, people with drug use disorders represent a significant
part of the prison population or population in contact with the criminal
justice system. For that population, evidence-based treatment and careinterventions have proven to be effective. 25 In their joint publication
entitled Treatment and Care for People with Drug Use Disorders inContact with the Criminal Justice System: Alternatives to Conviction or
Punishment, UNODC and the World Health Organization examinevarious options to divert into treatment people with drug use disorders
who are in contact with the criminal justice system.
21. Non-custodial measures can be applied at any stage of the justiceprocess. At the pretrial stage, they include conditional discharge, bailand diversion from prosecution, such as through a restorative justiceprocess, for example, victim-offender mediation. In the case of people
with drug use disorders, treatment and care can be provided as analternative to conviction or punishment. Sentencing-phase options
include fines, community service orders, probation and suspended
sentence. Post-sentencing options for incarcerated offenders include
parole and conditional release. Furthermore, restorative justiceprogrammes at various phases can pave the way for or be used inconjunction with non-custodial measures or early release. Some of these
non-custodial sanctions involve community supervision or otherinterventions. In many countries, new methods of supervision, such as
Aquil Haziq Mahmud, “Prisons exploring use of digital platforms to help ex-offenders
better reintegrate into society”, Channel News Asia, 11 January 2019.
25
For cases related to personal consumption and other relevant cases of a minor nature, theinternational drug control conventions allow for treatment and rehabilitation measures tobe applied as an alternative to conviction or punishment (United Nations Convention
against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988, art. 3, para.
4 (c) and (d)).

24- 13 - 13 -

electronic monitoring, are increasingly used as a component ofcommunity supervision in case of conditional release.
22. Sentencing or case-disposition decisions must be made in line withthe principle of proportionality, as well as the fundamental rights of theoffenders, the rights of the victims and concern for public safety. The
practical application of those principles has its challenges, including
gaps in legal and policy frameworks, a lack of capacity among criminal
justice practitioners or insufficient public awareness and acceptance ofalternatives to imprisonment. The use of non-custodial measures ismore likely in jurisdictions where the general public has a positive
attitude towards offender rehabilitation in the community and where thesystem is capable of delivering rehabilitative community interventions(“community-based treatment” or “community corrections”). Somejurisdictions have codified legislative options for non-custodial
sanctions, but those have little to no application in practice owing to
low levels of public understanding and acceptance or the lack ofauthorities or institutions responsible for, or familiar with, deliveringcommunity-based treatment.
23. In deciding adequate penalties or case dispositions and providing
rehabilitative interventions, assessments are necessary to identify theoffenders’ individual risks, needs and environmental factors that may
have a positive or negative impact on their chances of successful social
reintegration. Thus, relevant information needs to be collected at therelevant stages of the criminal justice process, for example, through theuse of pre-sentencing or social inquiry reports at the sentencing stage
and of risk and needs assessments in prison. Furthermore, several
countries have developed sentencing guidelines or established advisory
sentencing councils or commissions to ensure fairness and incorporate
rehabilitative perspectives in the sentencing process.
24. In order to incorporate rehabilitative perspectives in pretrial orsentencing decisions, it is also important to make the judiciary or otherdecision-making institutions aware of rehabilitative perspectives, inparticular the role of prisons and of those responsible for communitybased treatment in offender rehabilitation. In Canada, the “Judges to
Jails” programme gives opportunities to judges to learn about prisonsand parole, including through visits to prisons and listening to parole
hearings. In Kenya, the police department, prison department, children
services department, prosecution, judiciary and probation department
engage in continuous collaboration and information-sharing throughout
the juvenile justice process, so that each authority, including the
judiciary, may perform its role effectively.
25. Restorative justice programmes can contribute to reducing
reoffending when they are implemented in accordance with procedural
safeguards, giving due regard to the rights and needs of both offenders
and victims. 26 As a flexible approach to dealing with crime, they can be
implemented at any stage of the criminal justice process (police,prosecution, courts and prisons), or even independently from it. By
giving offenders an opportunity to fully understand and recognize theconsequences of their actions and the impact that those actions have hadon the victims, their families and members of the community,
restorative justice programmes can contribute to reducing reoffendingby increasing the chance that offenders will take responsibility for their
behaviour and desist from crime. The participatory, flexible and26

Basic principles on the use of restorative justice programmes in criminal matters(Economic and Social Council resolution 2002/12).

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problem-solving approach of restorative justice programmes
encourages a more prosocial attitude, which can reduce reoffending.
When community members participate in a restorative justice process,their informal support can help offenders to acquire prosocial
behaviours, thus motivating them to change. 27 In Austria, for example,
it is reported that 84 per cent of offenders who participated in victimoffender mediation did not reoffend afterwards. 28 In the Philippines, thebarangay, the smallest unit of local government, plays an important rolein the restorative justice process. Stakeholders who participate in theprocess typically include barangay officials, religious members, family
members of the offender and the victim and community volunteers.
26. It is crucial that community-based approaches be implemented
with the individual situations of offenders and community in mind. Dataon persons serving community or semi-custodial sanctions andmeasures from the Council of Europe SPACE II project show that anincrease in the use of community sentencing does not automaticallyresult in a reduction in the use of imprisonment. 29 The indiscriminate
and excessive use of community sanctions without adequate attention
given to individual cases and the community’s capacity brings risks ofmass supervision and net-widening by imposing community
supervision in cases that might previously have resulted in financial
sanctions or other less restrictive options. This practice would not
alleviate prison overcrowding and may exceed the capacity of thecommunity corrections agency, posing difficulties in delivering
appropriate interventions to those who need them. Furthermore,
unnecessary supervision and interventions for low-risk offenders
increase their reoffending risks.
27. Community-based treatment can facilitate the social reintegrationof offenders subject to non-custodial sanctions or dispositions orreleased from imprisonment. The goal is to provide the appropriatebalance of supervision and support through effective collaboration
between criminal justice agencies and community-based stakeholders,
including by seeking community participation. This will create
favourable conditions for the reintegration of offenders into thecommunity under the best possible conditions, considering theirsituation.
28. A common strategy to establish and implement effective
community corrections is to make full use of existing community
resources. For example, the active use of volunteers has been an
effective way to engage the community and provide necessary support
to offenders with multiple needs while, at the same time, saving
governmental resources. In Japan, the volunteer probation officers playa vital role in community corrections by assisting professional probation
officers in conducting community supervision and pre-release
coordination of the offender’s social environment. Similar systems arein place in other countries, including Kenya, Malaysia, the Philippines,
the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand. 30 While the duties ofSee, for example, Andrew Day and others, “Promoting forgiveness in violent offenders: amore positive approach to offender rehabilitation?”, Aggression and Violent Behavior,
vol. 13, No. 3 (June–July 2008), pp. 195–200.
28
Veronika Hofinger and Alexander Neumann, “Legalbiografien von Neustart Klienten”(Vienna, Institut für Rechts- und Kriminalsoziologie, 2008).
29
Vicki Prais and Frances Sheaban, Global Prison Trends 2019, Martha Crowley, ed.
(London, Penal Reform International and Bangkok, Thailand Institute of Justice, 2019), p.
40.
30
Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders,“Report of the second Asia Volunteer Probation Officers meeting”, in Resource Material
Series No. 104 (Tokyo, March 2018), pp. 149–150.
27- 15 - 15 -those volunteers vary from country to country, the core concepts are to
conduct community-based supervision and counselling in a prosocial
environment, using the local knowledge of an established member ofthe community to connect the offender with local resources and creating
positive personal relationships that last beyond the term of supervision.
In Croatia, a new probation system was introduced by taking a step-bystep approach after long and thoughtful planning. Croatia established its
probation service in 2009 upon enacting enabling legislation but choseto establish only a small number of offices in the first three years, tofocus on quality over quantity of service delivery. In 2017, Croatia
merged its prison and probation services, which facilitated the exchange
of information and promoted cooperation between prison and probation
practitioners, who often serve the same clients.
29. When prisoners are released into the community, they frequently
encounter a wide range of social barriers to re-entry, such as challenges
in access to employment, housing, treatment for drug use disorders andprosocial support. The continuum of care from prison to the community
through robust coordination, in particular between institutional andcommunity corrections services, is crucial. Ensuring an adequate periodof support facilitates a smooth transition to society. This can take theform of a support staff assigned to work with the offender in prison andin the community during an initial transition period, to assist theoffender in finding housing and employment, and generally helping theoffender to navigate through the initial stages of re-entry. In Canada,“statutory parole” is granted when two thirds of the sentence has been
served; furthermore, “full parole” allows for earlier release with
community supervision upon the decision of the Parole Board. Fullparole had an extremely high completion rate of more than 98 per centfrom 2017 to 2018. The Parole Board of Canada carries out initiatives
to make the parole process transparent and accessible to the public.
30. Simply monitoring offenders’ compliance with conditions of
release is insufficient for successful community supervision.
Appropriate supervision involves managing the offenders’ risks,
coordinating resources to meet their needs, and developing andmaintaining a trust-based human relationship with them. 31 Other criticalactivities include teaching, support, reinforcing positive behaviour andenforcing consequences for negative behaviour. 32 The process ofsupervision must be informed by an understanding of reoffending andmust focus on developing the offenders’ motivation and capacities forchange. Supervision can contribute to reducing reoffending when it isbased on an adequate assessment of the offenders’ needs, motivationand situation and on a sound case management approach. Staff training
and guidance are particularly important for officers and volunteers
involved in supervision. The Practice Guide for Intervention 33
developed in New South Wales, Australia, is a series of structured
exercises and activities designed to guide interventions and enhance thebehaviour-change focus of supervision sessions. The Strategic Training
Initiative in Community Supervision, 34 which is used in a number ofjurisdictions and has contributed to a remarkable decrease in

UNODC, Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism, p. 59.
Ibid.
33
Mark V. A. Howard and others, “Innovations in a model for enhancing the behavior
change content of supervision with community-based offenders, Advancing Corrections
Journal, 7th ed. (June 2019).
34
James Bonta and others, “Taking the leap: from pilot project to wide-scale
implementation of the Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision (STICS)”,
Justice Research and Policy, vol. 15, No. 1 (June 2013), pp. 17–35.
31
32- 16 - 16 -

reoffending, trains parole and probation officers to better adhere to therisk-needs-responsivity-based model in their interviewing techniques.

C.

Taking a multifaceted approach to ensure continuous
support and services for rehabilitation andreintegration of offenders
31. The importance of public-private partnership and of engaging
members of society in the pursuit of sustainable societies is emphasized
in both the Sustainable Development Goals (in particular in target 17 ofGoal 17) and the Doha Declaration on Integrating Crime Prevention andCriminal Justice into the Wider United Nations Agenda to AddressSocial and Economic Challenges and to Promote the Rule of Law at the
National and International Levels, and Public Participation adopted at
the Thirteenth Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice(General Assembly resolution 70/174). In the criminal justice context,
the rehabilitation and social reintegration of offenders cannot be
accomplished by criminal justice authorities alone. All segments ofsociety need to be involved at all stages of the process towards social
reintegration. Public-private partnerships and the active involvement of
the community are particularly important to ensure the continuity ofinterventions and support for the prisoners’ smooth reintegration into
the community. Moreover, community-based approaches cannot be
achieved without the understanding and acceptance of the community
and the public at large. It is of vital importance to take a multifaceted
approach by incorporating the active participation of a wide range of
relevant sectors and persons into the rehabilitation and reintegration
process. Political will plays a key role in involving relevant
stakeholders in multifaceted initiatives. Criminal justice authorities
must also identify, activate and mobilize existing public and private
community resources and make efforts to build robust partnerships with
relevant stakeholders. For example, Japan has adopted comprehensive
government-wide strategies whereby various rehabilitative initiatives
addressing employment, housing, education, social welfare, health careand family relations are undertaken on the basis of enhanced publicpublic and public-private partnerships.
32. Stakeholder engagement is critically important in coordinating
employment, housing, education, social welfare, health-care, family andpeer support, enhancing the offenders’ human and social capital,
community supervision and other interventions, awareness-raising andtechnical assistance. Stakeholders can be from the public sector (at theState and local levels, as well as representing international or regional
bodies), from the private sector (including non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs), employers and peer support groups) orindividuals (family members, experts, volunteers or community
members). It is imperative that criminal justice authorities, in particular
corrections and rehabilitation authorities, engage those stakeholders anddevelop cooperative partnerships with clearly defined roles.
33. Employment is a key factor for successful reintegration, as it is
not simply a source of income but helps offenders to reconnect with thecommunity and contributes to the enhancement of their self-esteem,
self-confidence and self-efficacy. 35 A number of interventions to help
35

Joe Graffam and others, Attitudes of Employers, Corrective Services Workers,
Employment Support Workers, and Prisoners and Offenders towards Employing ExPrisoners and
Ex-Offenders (Burwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Deakin University, School of Health andSocial Development, 2004), p. 4.

- 17 - 17 -

offenders to find and sustain employment can be delivered as in-prisonor community-based programmes, such as vocational training, teaching
job application and interview skills, and offering job placement andcareer counselling services. Effective support should also be provided
to employers, such as public subsidies for employing former offenders,compensation for damage, preference in public procurement and tax
credits or deductions. Furthermore, matching the needs of the offenders
and businesses is key to successful support. The Safer Foundation, an
NGO based in the United States of America and working independently
and in partnership with government, offers a range of services to help
formerly incarcerated individuals to secure employment and has
achieved a high rate of sustained employment.
34. The lack of suitable housing poses a reoffending risk and is amajor challenge that former prisoners face at the time of re-entry. 36
Many offenders coming out of prison are or become homeless and facestrong stigmatization, including from their own families, which impede
them from returning to live with their families. Without adequate
accommodation, it is extremely difficult to sustain employment and live
independently. Thus, housing support should start in prison as animportant preparation for re-entry. Since accommodation forms thebasis of life in the community, each offender’s individual circumstances
should be taken into account, and special consideration will benecessary for offenders with special needs, such as those with physicalor mental disabilities, the elderly and those suffering from drug
dependence. Housing support will function best when linked withinitiatives to support employment, social welfare, health care andrecovery from drug use disorders by community development bodies,housing authorities and non-profit and faith-based organizations. Prisonand community corrections authorities should work together with suchinitiatives and organizations to coordinate housing. In the United States,
the Safer Foundation operates adult transition centres accommodating
former offenders in partnership with the Government of the State of
Illinois. In Japan, the probation service begins coordinating offenders’post-release accommodation at the time of incarceration. If the prisoner
cannot rely on family, relatives or friends, the Government provides
offenders with temporary housing options, including publicly run or
subsidized rehabilitation facilities and private housing. In addition,accommodation in social welfare facilities can be arranged for theelderly or disabled.
35. The Nelson Mandela Rules point to the need to provide prisoners
with education and to integrate such programmes into the country’s
educational system. Access to the job market requires a level offunctional literacy and numeracy, as well as other basic working skills,
which many prisoners have simply not achieved. Functional literacy anda secondary school diploma, or a higher-level degree, facilitate
employment. Robust and continuous partnerships with public andprivate education need to be developed. The EQUAL Initiative of the
Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of
the European Commission has taken steps to improve access to
education and training for prisoners in order to facilitate theirreintegration into the labour market, such as distance learning inprisons. 37 The Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha
Declaration is supporting the Government of El Salvador in setting up
e-learning university and technical studies in several prisons.

36
37

UNODC, Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism, p. 45.
Ibid., p. 50.

- 18 - 18 -

36. Prison- and community-based rehabilitative approaches should besensitive to offenders with specific needs, such as women, young people,
the elderly, persons with disabilities, foreigners, the poor andmarginalized groups. Accordingly, building partnerships withstakeholders that can address those specific needs is crucial. Female
offenders, for example, require gender-specific reintegration initiatives,
as outlined in the Bangkok Rules. Fewer rehabilitation opportunities areavailable to women, and the opportunities that exist tend to be lessvaried and of poorer quality than those offered to men. In Georgia, Penal
Reform International, an international NGO, works with local partnerorganizations to deliver rehabilitation and support services to female
prisoners and their children who have experienced violence anddiscrimination.
37. The offender’s family is usually the most important stakeholder
for successful reintegration, because they provide offenders with social,financial and mental support. Therefore, it is crucial to involve family
members in the rehabilitative process whenever possible by facilitating
continued contact with the offender during the incarceration period,
with appropriate exceptions in domestic violence cases. However, manyfamilies also face negative impacts from the incarceration of offenders,
whom they may not be willing or able to support upon release.
Therefore, support for family members may be necessary, including
timely notification of the offender’s release and assistance offered tofamily members in emotional, financial and interpersonal aspects.
38. Peer support and mentoring by former offenders is valuable tosocial reintegration because mentors can empathize with the offenders,
and their input is less likely to be viewed with suspicion. Peer support
focuses on attitude, spirituality and other factors that facilitate social
reintegration. Operating in Sweden and several other countries,
Kriminellas Revansch I Samhället (Criminals Return into Society), isan NGO operated by former offenders that helps other offenders on theirpath to reintegration by listening to offenders’ concerns and giving them
advice.
39. The use of volunteers is an efficient way to involve the communityand provide necessary support. The importance of the role of supervised
volunteers properly trained in the social reintegration of offenders isstressed in the Tokyo Rules. In addition to the use of volunteer probation
officers in Japan and a growing number of countries, other examples
include community member participation in mediation and restorative
justice programmes and volunteer-led NGOs that support offender
rehabilitation.
40. Awareness-raising activities will foster understanding andcooperation of stakeholders and generate public acceptance. Awarenessraising efforts should be directed to various target groups, including
policymakers, and conducted in an appropriate manner. For example,
fostering among the general public a general understanding of theimportance of offenders’ social reintegration is necessary. A good way
to convince the general population could be to showcase success stories.
Various electronic media, such as the Internet, short message services
and mobile phone applications, can be effective means to raiseawareness both in terms of cost and impact, allowing for a wide
dissemination of information and interactive communications. To
convince specific stakeholders to engage in rehabilitative support, faceto-face consultation or other forms of direct communication can also be
effective.

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41. Over the past 15 years, the Yellow Ribbon Project in Singapore
has made significant progress in achieving awareness, generating
acceptance and inspiring community action. The joint efforts bycommunity members and partners, coupled with sustained media
outreach, have built a national culture of acceptance and empathy
towards former prisoners and their families. In a survey conducted in2018, about 65 per cent of the respondents indicated that they wereready to accept former prisoners at school, in the workplace, in thefamily and in the community. Beyond its success as an awarenessraising campaign, the Yellow Ribbon Project has been linked to adecrease in the reoffending rate. 38
42. Technical assistance can be and has been provided by various
players, including UNODC, the Programme Network Institutes of theUnited Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and otherinternational or regional organizations. For example, the Asia and Far
East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of
Offenders has undertaken long-standing capacity-building for criminal
justice personnel around the world through international training
courses focusing on the reduction of reoffending, paying particularattention to the United Nations standards and norms and the Sustainable
Development Goals. The private sector and NGOs can be key partners
by leveraging relationships within the community and making use of
their expertise, skills and knowledge of the social, religious and cultural
backgrounds of the area that they serve. Technical assistance inpartnership with non-criminal justice sectors may also be effective in
addressing root causes of crime, such as poverty and discrimination.
43. Penal Reform International and the Thailand Institute of Justice
have developed a practical guide for the rehabilitation of female
prisoners with many innovative examples of promising practices fromvarious jurisdictions, which can be used for capacity-building aroundthe world. 39 Hedayah, the international centre of excellence forcountering violent extremism, has developed and launched a monitoring,measurement and evaluation smartphone and desktop application to
help to design programmes to counter violent extremism and to forecast
programme impact. Although focused on countering violent extremism,
the application is well suited to the design of any offender rehabilitation
or reintegration programme. Known as “MASAR”, the application is afree online tool that provides step-by-step guidance on developing a“theory of change” to guide each programme, identifying communitybased resources and designing frameworks for effective evaluation.

III. Conclusions and recommendations
44. Reducing reoffending is critical to building inclusive, sustainable
societies, as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda. To reduce reoffending
effectively, criminal justice systems must prioritize creating
rehabilitative prison management and environments, adopting andimplementing community-based approaches that contribute to reducing
reoffending, and taking a multifaceted, multi-stakeholder approach. To
those ends, criminal justice systems should ensure rehabilitative
processes and environments throughout all stages and pathways leading
to successful reintegration.

Santhi Pandian and others, “Singapore’s Yellow Ribbon Project: unlocking the second
prison”, Advancing Corrections Journal, 7th ed. (2019), pp. 60–72.
39
Critoph, The Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration of Women Prisoners, p. 29.
38- 20 - 20 -

45. The attainment of rehabilitative processes and environments
requires continuing efforts by criminal justice actors, includingprosecution, judicial, prison and probation authorities, as well as actors
in the community, to solve problems stemming from overcrowding,
avoid excessive use of imprisonment, ensure seamless interventions andsmooth transition from prison to community, properly implement
community corrections, enhance offenders’ abilities to live crime-free
lives and foster acceptance by and cooperation of the community. As
such measures encompass many fields, reducing reoffending requires amultifaceted approach with active and robust partnerships among a wide
range of public and private stakeholders. These stakeholders must act ina concerted manner, taking account of the diversity among justicesystems and the social, cultural and other backgrounds of eachjurisdiction.
46. Bearing this in mind, and considering the recommendations
adopted at the regional preparatory meetings, the participants in theworkshop may wish to consider the following recommendations:(a) Member States should ensure rehabilitative processes andenvironments throughout all stages and pathways leading to successful
reintegration, with special focus on: (i) where appropriate, theimposition of less restrictive sanctions and the active and adequate useof non-custodial penalties and dispositions in line with the Tokyo Rules
and the Bangkok Rules; (ii) effective interventions and support
responding to each individual’s specific needs, based on empiricalevidence both in prison and in the community; (iii) the continuity ofinterventions and support throughout the process, in particular fromprison to the community; and (iv) adopting a multifaceted, multistakeholder approach;(b) Member States should take consistent steps to establish arehabilitative environment in all prisons by: (i) ensuring proper prison
administration and case management and eliminating corruption,
overcrowding and violence in prisons; (ii) providing interventions,
treatment programmes, education, vocational training and work to help
offenders to develop skills to lead law-abiding lives; (iii) enabling
offenders to maintain their community and family ties; and (iv) ensuringthat prisoners are treated fairly and with the respect due to their inherent
dignity as human beings. The provisions of the Nelson Mandela Rules
and the Bangkok Rules should be adhered to and applied in practice;(c) Member States should seek to develop and implement
interventions and treatment options that contribute to reducing
reoffending, based on empirical evidence. They should undertake tocollect relevant statistics, conduct research and share such information
nationally and internationally;(d) Member States should develop and implement specificgender-responsive rehabilitation and reintegration policies andprogrammes in line with the Bangkok Rules and based on existing goodpractices;(e) Member States should tailor interventions and treatment
programmes to the individual needs of each offender, in particular for
those with specific needs, such as young people, the elderly, persons
with disabilities, the poor and marginalized groups, and eliminate
barriers to social reintegration;- 21 - 21 -(f) Member States should recognize the importance of
rehabilitative community-based interventions and support to reduce
reoffending and should endeavour to develop effective communitybased approaches. In introducing or implementing community-based
treatment, Member States should identify and strengthen existing
community resources, involve community stakeholders, including
volunteers, enhance their capacity through guidance and training andensure that a mandated and sufficiently resourced public entity is inplace to manage, supervise and support offenders in the community,
such as a dedicated probation service;(g) Member States, in implementing multi-stakeholder
approaches to reduce reoffending, should establish, foster and improvemechanisms and platforms and establish an organizational culture tocontinuously involve all relevant stakeholders, including the public
sector at both the State and local levels, the private sector, faith-basedorganizations, academia, volunteers and community members, so that
all relevant stakeholders are able to work together towards the social
reintegration of offenders. Member States should seek to promote
public-public and public-private partnerships, inter alia, to help
offenders to secure timely job placement and housing after release andaccess to social and medical services, educational opportunities andvocational training;(h) In the introduction and implementation of effective
rehabilitative mechanisms, Member States should seek a realistic, stepby-step approach that considers the availability of resources and thefeasibility of steps to be taken within a certain time frame and that
allocates adequate resources. Taking such an approach, Member Statesshould make full use of existing resources, including those in thecommunity, refer to established measures and experiences in otherjurisdictions and explore the cost-effective use of information
technology;(i) Acknowledging that public understanding and cooperation
are key elements to offender rehabilitation and reintegration into society,
Member States should undertake, and allocate adequate financial andhuman resources for, awareness-raising activities directed to the generalpublic, the private sector, NGOs, volunteers, employers and the family
members of offenders;(j) Member States are encouraged to offer or seek technicalassistance, as appropriate, for the adoption or implementation ofeffective rehabilitative measures. Furthermore, Member States should
actively share information on promising practices and support capacitybuilding efforts for criminal justice practitioners aimed at reducing
reoffending. Member States may also consider seeking technicalassistance from UNODC, the Programme Network Institutes of theUnited Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, otherinternational and regional organizations and relevant non-governmental
stakeholders.

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