GROUP 2
ENHANCEMENT OF COMMUNITY-BASED ALTERNATIVES TO
INCARCERATION AT THE SENTENCING STAGE OF THE CRIMINALJUSTICE PROCESS
Chairperson

Mr. Koichi Nozawa

Co-Chairperson

Mr. Baljit Singh Sandhu(India)Rapporteur

Mr. Ronald Mpuru Ntuli(South Africa)

Co-Rapporteur

Ms. Kiyoko Uda(Japan)Co-Rapporteur

Mr. Hidenori Takahashi(Japan)Members

Mr. Hermawansyah(Indonesia)

Ms. Sayoko Yamamoto(Japan)Mr. Haleem Mohamed(Maldives)

Mr. Richard Zubrycki(Canada)Visiting Experts
Advisers(Japan)Professor Woo Sik Chung(Korea)Deputy Director Tomoko Akane(UNAFEI)

Professor Toru Miura(UNAFEI)

Professor Sue Takasu(UNAFEI)

Professor Ryuji Kuwayama(UNAFEI)

I. INTRODUCTION
The group considered the topic of enhancing community-based alternatives to incarceration at thesentencing stage of the criminal justice process for discussion and the preparation of a report. The
group consisted of eight participants from five countries. It was composed of four Japanese officials
including an assistant judge, public prosecutor, probation officer, and a specialist in psychologicalassessment from Japan, a judge from Indonesia, two police officers from India and Maldivesrespectively and one correctional official from South Africa. It was assisted by advisors from Canada
and Korea.
The group discussed available community-based alternatives at the sentencing stage of the criminal
justice process as illustrated by current practices in each country. In addition, the group criticallyexamined the advantages and disadvantages of various community-based alternatives. There will
always be cases where custodial measures will be necessary as well as cases where community-basedalternatives would be the most appropriate choice at the sentencing stage. Judges grapple with thisissue daily in deciding which of the available alternatives to invoke. Therefore, this paper also seeks tosuggest how to enhance community-based alternatives at the sentencing stage of the criminal justiceprocess.
II. COMMUNITY-BASED ALTERNATIVES
A. What are Community-Based Alternatives?
Definitions of community-based alternatives are many and varied. In this paper, the term is definedbroadly as referring to any court-ordered sanction that occurs in the community, particularly where it
provides an alternative to a custodial sanction. Such programmes often include supervision of convicted
offenders, provision of various services to them, monitoring, encouraging and enforcing compliance withsentencing conditions such as payment of fines, victim compensation, community service andrestitution orders and provide for an element of punishment through increased control andaccountability while in the community.

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The term community-based alternatives includes many of the measures identified in the U.N.
Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures (Tokyo Rules, 1990) which were promulgated toencourage Member Nations to use non-custodial measures in appropriate cases. Those non-custodial
measures refer broadly to sanctions for an offence that require an offender to remain in the community
and to comply with certain conditions.
From the foregoing definitions, it is clear that there are many forms of community-basedalternatives to incarceration. What they all have in common however, is a belief that prison is not thebest way to deal with many offenders, particularly those who pose a low or manageable risk of reoffending.
B. What are the Purposes of Community-Based Alternatives?
There are various purposes of community-based alternatives among which are:a. To reduce overcrowding in prisons and prevent escalation of detention costs;
b. To ensure public safety and security through effective supervision and control over offenders
who serve their sentences in the community;c. To prevent or reduce offender stigmatization;d. To enhance rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders into the community in order tostrengthen their ability to live peacefully with others in the community setting;e. To permit the offender to contribute towards his or her family in particular and to society byworking instead of being confined in prison or jail;f.

To avoid the risks of family break-up due to separation during incarceration;

g. To avoid an escalation in deviant behaviour when new offenders are mixed with hardened
criminals;
h. To monitor and supervise offenders in order to ensure compliance with court –ordered
conditions and programme requirements.
III. ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION OF COMMUNITY-BASEDALTERNATIVES
The current utilization and administration of community-based alternatives at the sentencing stage
was analysed. Advantages and disadvantages were also identified. Please refer to the appendix for theavailable community-based alternatives in the participating countries.
A. Verbal Sanctions such as Admonition, Reprimand and Warning
Where permissible courts, may pass verbal sanctions such as admonition, reprimand, warning or
caution to the offender instead of sentencing him/her to any punishment.
This option is usually imposed on the offender whose offence is trivial and risk of recidivism is low
such as a first time offender, traffic violator and juvenile delinquents who the court believes can berehabilitated by him/herself. It is assumed from the beginning that he/she would not receive a sentenceof imprisonment. Therefore, strictly speaking verbal sanctions may not be community-basedalternatives to incarceration. However, these measures are widely used at the sentencing stage as well
as at the pre-sentencing stage in some countries such as India (Admonition and warning) and South
Africa (Caution and a discharge). In Canada, Admonition is not so widely used because usually thosecases, which are suitable for verbal sanctions, are already diverted from the criminal justice process atthe pre-sentencing stage or receive unconditional discharges following a finding of guilt.

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The common practice is that notice of the verbal sanction is given to the offender as an official
document. Whether a record will be created however, differs among countries.
In India, these records are not provided to the public. Hence, they cannot be used against offenders.
In South Africa, if the court warns the offender, the conviction is recorded as a previous conviction. In
Canada, a discharge does not result in the creation of a record.
One of the advantages of these measures is that the offender continues to lead a normal community
life with minimal intervention by the criminal justice system. He/she can maintain his/her productive
employment and contribute to the economy of his/her community.
Disadvantages are that some offenders may not be supervised properly after verbal sanctions by the
court. Nevertheless, it is believed that there is a deterrent value for the offender to be given a verbal
sanction by the judge. These measures are most suitable when imposed at an early stage in terms of theoffender’s interests and costs.
In Japan, a similar measure is operated for juvenile delinquents. The family court has the primary
jurisdiction over dispositions of all juvenile cases. When the family court considers that admonition andadvice by the judge and the family probation officer is sufficient for his/her rehabilitation, the case will
be dismissed after hearing.
Participants recognized verbal sanctions as a useful sentencing option for countries to consider.
B. Economic Sanctions and Monetary Penalties, Such as Fines
The courts may order the offenders to pay a certain amount of money as a criminal penalty.
This option is usually used for offenders convicted of wide range of minor offences including traffic
violations. This option (fine) is widely used in all participating countries.
In South Africa, the court may sentence a person to imprisonment with the alternative option of
paying a fine. The court will stipulate the amount of the fine and the date by when it should be paid.
The court may also suspend the payment of the fine for a stipulated period on condition that theaccused person is not convicted of the same offence during that period. In addition, the Criminal
Procedure Act allows the court, in cases of imprisonment for a period of three months or less to combine
it with a fine to reduce the term of imprisonment.
In all countries, default of payment of a fine normally results in a specified period of imprisonment.
One of the advantages of this option is that it punishes the offender by taking money from him/her,without resorting to incarceration. This option needs comparatively less manpower and budget to
implement, although there may be a problem in collecting payment when the offenders do not pay. In
the final analysis, however, fines and monetary penalties are a revenue source for the state. In Japan
like some other countries, heavy monetary penalties are imposed to deter profit motivated economicand environmental crimes.
A disadvantage is that the offender may be made to serve a term of imprisonment when he/shecannot pay his/her fine. But in Canada, the offender can be offered the option of performing community
service work instead of paying a fine. In South Africa, a community service order is available for similarcases. In some European countries, a system of day-fines is used which gears the amount of the penalty
to the income of the offender.
Where they exist, community service orders and a system of day-fines are effective options to avoid
incarcerating minor offenders who cannot afford to pay a monetary penalty.
Participants viewed economic sanctions as a useful sentencing option for countries to consider.

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C. Restitution or a Compensation Order
The court may order the offender to pay compensation to the victim of crime for any personal, loss
and damage resulting from the offence.
The present criminal justice systems in a majority of the countries, focus primarily on actions to betaken against an offender who has committed a crime and limited consideration is given to the victim.
Often the victim is the only affected person who has suffered psychologically, physically andeconomically. Hence, it is incumbent on the offender, society and criminal justice system to recognize
and provide appropriate compensation to the victim to reduce the harm they have experienced. This
restorative philosophy has been accepted by some of the countries as an important element in theircriminal justice systems.
These measures are used in both India and South Africa. In India, when the court directs therelease of an offender on probation, if it thinks fit, it can direct the offender to pay compensation for loss
or injury caused to any person by commission of the offence. It can also direct the payment of costs ofthe proceedings as the court thinks reasonable. To assess the quantum of compensation, it is purely thediscretion of the court to allow compensation and costs as it thinks reasonable in a particular case.
However, there is limited application of the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958. In South
Africa, a court can impose a sentence of imprisonment or the payment of compensation.
The major advantage of these measures is that the victim of the crime can be assisted and better
satisfied with the judgment thus reducing the chance that they will continue to feel aggrieved.
A disadvantage is that it is often difficult for a criminal court to determine the appropriate amountof compensation to be paid to the victim of crime for damages and loss. In addition, when an offendercannot afford to pay compensation to the victim, the court may have no option but to impose anothersentence involving incarceration.
During the group workshop, it was generally agreed that restitution and payment of compensation
are very important measures but require suitable legal authority to be implemented in the legal
systems of participating countries.
D. Suspended Sentences
Most participating countries utilize some form of suspended sentence. The Court may impose a
sentence of imprisonment upon an accused found guilty of a crime and may suspend execution of thesentence in some cases with/without conditions. In Indonesia, suspended sentence with conditions thatare unsupervised are referred to as a Conditional Sentence. Probationary supervision when ordered as
one of the conditions will be discussed later.
In all countries the minimum conditions are that the offender does not commit a similar new offence
during the suspension period. The sentences that may be suspended and duration of the suspension
period are set out in the following table.
Country

Maximum Sentence

Minimum
suspension period

Maximum
suspension periodIndia

10 yearsUnlimited

3 years

Indonesia

1 yearUnlimited

2 yearsJapan

3 years

1 year

5 years

Maldives

3 months

Unlimited

1 yearSouth Africa

Unlimited

1year

5 years

In all participating countries, when a court convicts a person of an offence it may pass a sentence
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condition. Most often, the court suspends the sentence on condition that the person does not commit
another offence during the suspension period.
Suspended sentences allow the offenders to continue their normal activities in the community,
maintaining family contacts and meeting social obligations. The offenders are also protected frompossible negative effects of imprisonment and are given a chance of becoming a law-abiding citizen.
Suspended sentences mean that the offenders remain in society without restrictions. Normallyrehabilitation and reintegration is expected based on the offender’s character and social resources.
Suspended sentences help reduce overcrowding of prisons although some view them as
inappropriately lenient particularly where suspended sentence are used without thorough screening.
Nevertheless, the participants agreed that suspended sentences are useful sentencing options
which could be expanded in those countries where their use is limited.
E. Probation and Correctional Supervision
Probation and Correctional supervision are methods of implementing a wide range of communitybased alternatives to incarceration. They allow sentences of detention in correctional institutions to besuspended with specific conditions including supervision. They facilitate the implementation of a wide
range of community-based sentencing options.
Offenders, who are placed under probation supervision, are guided in the observance of specificconditions and given support and surveillance by probation officers, while leading lives in society. In thecase of a violation of the conditions of probation during the probationary period, the court may revoke
the probation order and set a sentence for the original offence or for the offence of “breach of probation”
or may render some other decision resulting in incarceration.
These measures are used widely in many countries including India, Japan and South Africa.
However, the use of these measures varies from country to country.
In India, as per the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958, these measures can beapplied to offenders who have committed minor crimes for the first time. They can be released on
probation with the supervision of probation officers. Offenders may be released on probation without
the supervision of probation officers on condition that they promise to conduct themselves well.
However, due to its limited enabling statutory framework these measures are seldom used in India.
In Japan, these measures apply to offenders where execution of the sentence has been suspended on
condition of probation. They are put under probation supervision from the date of the final adjudication
until the end of the suspension of execution of the sentence.
Suspended sentence with probation may be given to a repeated offender, if the sentence ofimprisonment with or without labour is for not more than one year, and if he/she committed a second
offence during a previous suspension period only when the previous suspension was not accompanied
by probation.
A further suspended sentence is not allowed for offenders who were given a previous suspended
sentence with probation. Therefore, a suspended sentence with probation is considered to be a heavier
sentence than the one without probation. These sentences may be used in a step by step fashionaccording to the mitigating/aggravating circumstances and the risk of re-offending. Thus in some cases
suspended sentences with probation might not be reflected from the necessities of rehabilitation in thecommunity.
As per the statistics for 2000, the number of persons who were sentenced to imprisonment in Japanin ordinary trials was 66,526. The number of persons who were given probation was 4,429 (about 6.7%).
Japan makes extensive use of volunteer probation officers to supervise offenders effectively.

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In South Africa, the court may impose a sentence of correctional supervision for up to three years.
The sentence of correctional supervision must include the following conditions:•placement under house arrest;•

performance of Community Service for a certain number of hours in a community project;•participation in treatment programmes, for example, treatment for drugs or alcohol abuse orparticipation in a training programme which will help him/her find work; and•the payment of victim compensation.
The court may also order additional conditions at its discretion.

In South Africa, a probation officer or a correctional official must submit a pre-sentence evaluation
report before sentencing. In India and Canada, a pre-sentence assessment report is prepared by theprobation officer at the direction of the court, whereas in Japan and in Indonesia pre-sentenceassessment reports are used for juvenile cases only. In Maldives, there is no provision for such reports.
A pre-sentence (evaluation) report is widely used in some countries, such as South Africa andCanada. However, in India, it is not so widely used because of a shortage of human resources andlimited application of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958. In Indonesia and Japan, it is widely used in
the case of juvenile delinquents.
The supervising probation officer may take action to ensure compliance with court ordered
conditions in some countries. In the case of non-compliance with a probation order, it may be revoked
and replaced with another sentence, in South Africa. However, in other countries such as Canada andIndia, when a probation order is revoked, it will result in incarceration.
Probation is less costly than prison while providing a significant degree of assistance and support tothe offender in the community.
Although failure to observe conditions that do not involve a new offence may lead to incarceration,some critics consider probation as too lenient. In addition, some countries lack well-trained probation
officers due to budgetary constraints.
Participating countries agreed that adequate probation services are essential to the enhancement ofcommunity-based alternatives.
F. Community Service Order
A community service order is an order of a court that punishes offenders in the community. The
court may order offenders to perform a specified number of hours of unpaid work for the benefit of thecommunity instead of sentencing them to a term of imprisonment. Before making a community service
order the court must clearly explain to the offender the following:•

the purpose and effect of the order,•

the consequences which may follow if he/she fails to comply with any requirement, and•the court will review the order if there is any change in circumstances.

A community service order is imposed on offenders who have committed offences punishable byimprisonment. Additionally, this measure may be used in cases of default of payment of monetary
penalties and those who have committed minor or petty offences. In South Africa, this option can beused as an independent sentencing alternative to short-term imprisonment. In some countries such as
Canada and Korea, a community service order can be used as supplementary to other sanctions such as
imprisonment, fine or probation. This option is used widely in the above countries.

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The administration of community service orders varies from country to country. In both Canada andKorea, probation services are charged with the responsibility of supervising offenders who serve
community service orders. Supervision by the probation service is obligatory for community service
orders. This kind of supervision entails a duty to check on the fulfillment of the obligation to work.
Minor first time violations of the conditions may lead to a warning by a probation officer. On the other
hand, the court will hand out more serious penalties if it is satisfied that the breach is serious. In South
Africa in some cases, the direct supervision of offenders on community service orders is done
independently by the supervising agencies and not by the Department of Correctional Services. This
arrangement has reportedly proven to be insufficient to ensure that conditions of the order are met.
In most countries such as Canada, Korea and South Africa, failure to comply with this order will
constitute a breach of probation or a community service order. In cases of a breach of a community
service order, the court may issue a warrant for the arrest of the offender. If the court is convinced thatthe offender has failed without reasonable excuse to comply with the order, it may fine him/her orcommit him/her to imprisonment.
The advantages of community service orders are: the community can benefit because some form of
restitution is paid by the offender, offenders benefit because they are given an opportunity to rejoin
their communities as a law-abiding and responsible member, the courts benefit because sentencing
alternatives are provided and offenders sentenced to community service orders may be individuallyplaced where their skills and interests can be maximized for community benefit.
A community service order can be a valuable alternative in cases where a monetary penalty such asa fine, restitution or compensation order is not practical due to the limited income of the offender. It alsooffers unique therapeutic opportunities both in terms of involving the offender in regular work patterns
which may be unfamiliar to him or her, and in a wider array of pro-social models and relationships thanhe or she may have previously had access to.
The disadvantages of community service order include amongst other things: the court may impose
a custodial sentence if offenders do not satisfactorily comply with this order; the administration ofcommunity service orders require administrative oversight that may exceed the capacity of nongovernmental organisations to provide and public exposure may result in stigmatization.
Participants regard community service orders as meaningful sentencing option, if probation
services or correctional services and any other governmental agencies are involved in theadministration and management of community service orders. Therefore, community service orders
should be considered by those countries, which are not applying them yet. Finally, countries, whichhave applied these measures, should further enhance them to be more effective and efficient
alternatives.
G. House Arrest
This is a form of punishment that requires the offender to remain in his/her own home with certain
restrictions.
This option is widely used in South Africa and Maldives as an alternative to incarceration during
the pre-sentencing stage but there is no common practice of this option in these two countries.
In South Africa, house arrest is used as a condition of correctional supervision. It is not an
independent sentencing option if a person is under house arrest. He/she can work, earn income, visit
people and receive visitors with prior approval from the supervisor. However, in Maldives this option isan independent sentencing option. If an offender is placed under house arrest his /her movement isrestricted to his/her home only and he/she cannot go out to work or far away, except in medical
emergency cases. Therefore, this is a more strictly controlled alternative sentence to incarceration thanother community-based sentences.
The offender placed under house arrest may continue his/her normal life with a family and help toreduce prison overcrowding.

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House arrest strictly restricts the offender’s movement. Finally, it prohibits his/her association with
undesirable elements but also can lead to job losses.
It is recommended that the laws, which are currently governing this measure, be made sufficiently
flexible to allow positive social interaction and ensure that it is an actual community-based alternative
to incarceration.
H. Referral to a Treatment Center
In Maldives and South Africa, a court may order an offender to undergo treatment at arehabilitation center. He/she may perform work, undergo physical training or attend education classes
and as far as possible he/she may avoid interference with working hours or school attendance.
This option generally is used for the offender who abuses drugs.
In South Africa, to require the offender to undergo treatment, several requirements must be met.
There must be evidence of an offence and a probation officer’s report recommending treatment. In
Maldives, it is not necessary to meet such requirements.
In South Africa, the court can postpone the order of treatment for a period, but not in Maldives.
The advantage of this option is that offenders are able to undergo treatment and are encouraged toabstain from using drugs/alcohol.
However often there are few rehabilitation centers due to lack of resources.
Treatment orders are a desirable concept, but to implement them member nations will have toconsider the availability or creation of treatment centers.
I. Banishment
In Maldives, banishment is an available sentence, which occurs in the community and is widelyused. The court may order the offender to be re-located to an inhabited island from his/her native island
for a specified period. His/her movement is free within that island and the chief of the island has the
responsibility to monitor him/her for the duration of the sentence.
One of the advantages is that banished offenders can continue to lead a community life and someoffenders would be able to establish new relationships with the local community. On the other hand,
although the chief of the island monitors offenders, professional supervision and guidance such as
counselling is usually unavailable. Sometimes, banished offenders may impact negatively on the local
community by continuing to commit crimes. Therefore, this measure is currently under debate by theconcerned authorities.
In Japan, some juvenile delinquents leave their community and live in their employer’s house for acertain period under the tentative probationary supervision by the family court probation officer.
Sometimes a change of residence is a good opportunity for an offender to improve his/her lifestyle andsocial relationships but removal from one’s home community can seriously disrupt established positivesocial relationships and should be used with great caution.
IV. RECOMMENDATION FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF COMMUNITY-BASEDALTERNATIVES AT THE SENTENCING STAGE
The safe use of community-based alternatives to incarceration for appropriate offenders, offers thegeneral advantages that they:
•
•
•
•

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Reduce upward pressure on prison populations and costs
Protect public safety as effectively as prison
Reduce stigmatization
Promote social reintegration of offenders

121ST INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEREPORTS OF THE COURSE•

Prevent recidivism.

To develop and maintain a successful system of community-based alternatives, a criminal justicesystem should have:
•
•
•

•

A wide array of community-based alternatives programmes available in the community
A wide array of flexible sentencing options available to the court
A system to assess offenders and available community-based programmes to assist the court inmatching appropriate offenders with appropriate sentencing options and community-basedalternatives
A system to effectively coordinate, administer and supervise the sentences of offenders in thecommunity.

An adequately resourced probation service helps achieve the foregoing by coordinating communitybased alternatives programmes, providing pre-sentence assessments to the court to assist withsentencing decisions and to provide assistance and supervise compliance with conditions while
offenders are under probation supervision. Together with the development of innovative communitybased alternatives like Community Service Orders, Member Nations can realize significant
improvements.
A. Probation Services
The creation or expansion of probation services may appear to be deceptively costly. However, whenmeasured against the social and financial cost of not doing so they may be seen as a wise investment,
particularly where extensive use of volunteer probation officers is feasible. Their costs are easily offset
by avoidance of the over-reliance on incarceration due to the lack of sufficient community andsentencing alternatives, more successful outcomes of effective matching of offenders with sanctions andthe improved quality of pre-sentence information on which courts can base their decisions without
increasing (or even decreasing) the workload of prosecutors and other court officials.
In addition to counselling, monitoring and managing the cases of individual offenders, probation
services can engage in community development work. They can be instrumental in mobilizing existing
community resources and establishing new community correctional programmes like halfway houses,
recreational, social programmes and specialized correctional treatment programmes in areas such as
substance abuse and domestic violence. As well as contributing to the treatment of offenders, suchprogrammes can help reduce the pressure on police who often end up by default working with
unsupervised offenders in the community.
Well managed and properly trained probation officers also provide a valuable service to courts inmaking sound decisions about the appropriate sentencing options and community-based alternatives
for certain offenders.
B. Information to the Court and Pre-Sentence Assessment
Courts often have limited relevant information about the circumstances of offenders that appear
before them. Even when they have considerable information before them it is often assembled for a
purpose other than sentencing i.e. to determine guilt or innocence during an adversarial process.
Sometimes such information will contain an objective assessment of the risk posed by the offender orabout the availability of feasible treatment options that the court may consider. Probation services
typically have the skills, training experience and knowledge that allows them to provide suchinformation to the court, when requested to do so.
On the one hand the risk posed by the offender can be systematically assessed even using
specialized actuarial risk-assessment techniques and on the other the availability and appropriatenessof various community alternatives can be assessed and balanced against custodial options. In countries
where pre-sentence reports already are in use, their expansion and improvement should be consideredsince their usefulness is often compromised when full investigations cannot be conducted due toinsufficient resources. Pre-sentence reports can help reduce the burden on prosecutors and the court
while improving the ability of judges to make appropriate and proper sentences.

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In such countries where pre-sentence reports are not available now, they are encouraged to review
their system and make it more effective to collect information for the courts to arrive at an appropriate
sentence.
It is also suggested that there is a further need for better coordination through regular meetings/
conferences and the exchange of information among police, prosecutors, judges and probation officers
regarding information about the offender.
C. Community Service Orders
Community service orders are an example of an innovative community-based alternative that canbe facilitated by the probation services and in which pre-sentence reports can help judges to decide
whether and when to use them.
To be successful community-based alternatives require a network of participating organisations
with which liaison must be maintained and a method to coordinate the assignment of offenders to thesework placements, to monitor their work performance, to counsel offenders and adjust assignments asnecessary and to report reliably and objectively to the court. This is usually done by a probation or
correctional official. Other models that rely on unsupervised work assignments, such as one model
practiced in South Africa, may be unreliable and therefore not credible in the eyes of the court andothers.
Canada reported good success with community service order systems that are managed by theprobation services. Although community service order programmes are comparatively more work
intensive than simple probation supervision, they are the less costly alternative where incarceration
would be the only other alternative to pay a fine. Canada reported the introduction of community
service orders originally as a “fine option program” to help reduce the number of offenders in custody
due only to defaulting on the payment of a fine.
Other nations reported the lack of community service orders in their systems but there was generalagreement that such a mechanism would be a welcome addition to the statutory options available totheir courts. Those who already have probation services might find it easier to introduce suchmeasures. Those countries that do not now use pre-sentence reports would have to consider ways toprovide reliable and timely information to sentencing courts on the availability of suitable programmesthat match the particular circumstances of particular offenders.
Whether considering the introduction, development or expansion of community service orderprogrammes, participants raised questions about the availability of resources to do so. In general, theexpanded use of community service orders should prove to be cost-beneficial to criminal justice systems
by helping ease the over-reliance on imprisonment. However there is not now an abundance of cost
analyses or evaluations of such programmes and each country would need to examine its own situation
to confirm the steps that would be required to effectively implement community service orders. At thesame time further research on the effectiveness of these measures is required.
Nonetheless it was generally agreed that Member Nations should be encouraged to consider the
introduction of community service order programmes.
V. CONCLUSION
Prison crowding is above all the result of over-reliance on sentencing options and sentencing rulesthat lead inexorably to the prison gates. In some countries this pattern continues in the face of the samedeclining rates of crime and recidivism achieved by other nations who rely far less on imprisoning theircitizens. In some other cases where crime rates appear to be rising, many believe prison to be the only
credible deterrent despite decades of research that proves that increased punishment including
escalating rates of imprisonment do not result in increased deterrence of crime.
Recent evidence (Gendreau et. al., Canada 2002) confirms that community based sanctions are atleast as effective as imprisonment in preventing repeat offending. Indeed, it was found that the highest

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risk offenders receiving the longest prison sentences had their rate of recidivism increased by as much
as 7%. Without this knowledge before them, many political and public movements believe that the only
effective response to crime is ever-tougher measures despite the social and capital cost of such policies.
The international working group of officials assembled at UNAFEI in Tokyo 2002 concluded
otherwise. We concluded that there are many credible and effective community based alternatives toimprisonment, all of which are practiced in at least some of the participating countries, that may be
adopted and expanded in nations who are concerned about affordable, humane and above all effective
correctional measures.
At the sentencing stage of the criminal justice process where sanctions are determined on a case bycase basis, it was seen as imperative to offer a sufficient array of flexible sentencing options that canlead down a path to the community as easily as to the prison in those cases where it is safe to do so. We
examined a wide range of community based – or at least non-custodial – sanctions and concluded thatthey all may be considered as available sentencing options as per the requirements of the individual
country. We examined verbal sanctions (including warnings and admonitions), monetary penalties(fines), victim compensation and restitution orders, suspended sentences with and without conditions,probation and correctional supervision, community service orders, treatment orders, house arrest andeven banishment in the context of the unique circumstances of Maldives. We concluded that these all(with the possible exception of banishment) have a place in a modern and effective criminal justicesystem.
They all hold out promise of controlling recidivism when the right offenders are matched with theright sentencing options and when community based programmes are adequately resourced andadministered with integrity. We concluded that possibly the most important measure to be consideredby any nation is the creation, expansion or consolidation of an adequately resourced and trained
probation service. Probation services can be instrumental in both assisting courts in choosing
appropriate sentencing options for each offender by providing thorough pre-sentence assessment
reports. Moreover, probation services facilitate the creation, coordination and management ofcommunity-based programmes and of individual cases to breathe life into the sentence of the court andto help ensure compliance with the court’s expectations and conditions. In the final analysis goodcommunication and coordination within and among criminal justice systems is the best guarantee of
implementing measures effectively.
Probation services and the community-based alternatives are inexpensive when compared tocustodial options. By helping reduce the need to construct and operate new prisons, high capital and ongoing costs can be avoided. Social costs can also be avoided by keeping offenders in the community, close
to family and employment as well as to a wide range of positive social relationships and influences. As
individual failures including re-offending are inevitable, the rate of recidivism – or put another way, thethreat to public safety – is as low or lower than that posed by offenders released following prison
sentences.
Ultimately the representatives of participating countries concluded that all nations should be urged
to adopt community based alternatives that can be utilized by sentencing courts and facilitated by wellresourced and managed probation services.

333

334

○
○
×
×
×
×

4. Suspended sentences

5. Probation and judicial supervision

6. A Community service order

7. House arrest

8. Referral to a treatment center

9. Banishment

× Not available○

3. Restitution or a compensation order○ Available○

2. Economic sanctions and monetary penalties (e.g. fine)

×

×

×

×

×

○

×

○

×

India Indonesia○

Sentencing stage

1. Verbal sanctions (e.g. admonition, reprimand, warning, caution)

No.

×

×

×

×

○

○

×

○

×

Japan

Presently Available Community-Based Alternatives

APPENDIX

○

○

○

×

×

○

×

○

×

Maldives

×

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

×

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

○

South
CanadaAfrica

×

×

×

○

○

○

×

○

×

Korea

RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 61