Offender supervision in Europe: General trends and Serbian experience

Abstract

Offender supervision represents an important mechanism applied during the execution of criminal sanctions and measures, especially of community or alternative sanctions. Official reports of some European countries suggest that the application of offender supervision is starting to deliver satisfactory results in crime prevention and suppression. Serbian normative framework for offender supervision was set in 2006, when community service was introduced, and improved by amendments of 2009. Strategy on the Minimization of Over-population of Institutions for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions in the Republic of Serbia between 2010 and 2015, recommended alternative sanctions as the most efficient means to reduce the number of prisoners, especially by applying the 'house prison', with or without electronic surveillance. Draft normative framework Serbian legislator is about to adopt comprises: Strategy of the development of the system of execution of criminal sentences between 2013 and 2020, Law on the Execution of Criminal Sanctions and Law on the Probation of Execution of Non-custodial Sanctions and Measures. These documents emphasize the contribution of offender supervision in the enforcement of probation during fulfilling: obligations in accordance with public prosecutor's decision to delay criminal prosecution, plea bargain agreement, ban to leave one's apartment with or without electronic surveillance, ban to approach, meet or communicate with a particular person, community service, conditional sentence, 'house prison', conditional release and post-penal treatment. Therefore, European legislative solutions and practical experiences are analyzed as possible role-models for future development of offender supervision and probation in Serbia.