Community Sanctions and Measures in Europe and North America

At the beginning of the 21st century, the field of community sanctions is still in a developmental stage, and the possibilities provided by these new sanctions are not being fully utilized. In many countries, legislation restricts the further development of these sanctions, there is a lack of an adequate infrastructure, and/or community sanctions are not receiving the support they deserve from politicians, judicial authorities and society. Community-based sanctions differ from traditional custodial sanctions in both form and objective, and can make a major contribution to the development of more humane and flexible criminal justice systems. An international exchange of both positive and negative experiences, and a comparison of similarities and differences in legislation and enforcement are the preferred means with which to diminish current prejudices against these modern sanctions and to promote their proliferation. This volume contains all the contributions to the festive seminar the Dutch Probation Service held in 1998 to celebrate its 175th anniversary. The authors are law experts from the USA, Canada, Russia and seventeen Western and Central European countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, England & Wales, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland). This publication provides exactly what is needed to stimulate the debate over the further, theoretical and practical development of community sanctions: numerous ideas, many experiences and ample information