The transfer of community sanctions and measures from a European perspective

Source: (2001) In Victim policies and criminal justice on the road to restorative justice: Essays in honour of Tony Peters, ed. E. Fattah and S. Parmentier, 253-265. With an introduction by E. Fattah and S. Parmentier. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press.

Community sanctions, or community-based sanctions and measures, as alternatives to institutional incarceration, have two main features: prevention of crime, and reintegration of the offender into society. Such sanctions and measures have increased significantly in European countries in the last several decades. Yet, according to Anton van Kalmthout, various factors inhibit their widespread implementation and fulfillment of objectives in most countries. Moreover, one category of offenders is usually excluded from community sanctions, even when their offense normally falls within the scope of community sanctions: foreigners – that is, people who do not live in the country in which they have committed a crime. With increasing tourism, movement of employees across borders, and international exchanges in sports or education, more and more people (mostly young people) are coming into conflict with the law and police in a country other than their own. In recognition of this problem, van Kalmthout examines the challenges in transferring community sanctions from one country to another, and he proposes an initial framework for making this feasible in the European community.