A network of over 60 leading researchers from across 23 countries has highlighted the emergence of 'mass supervision' in European criminal justice systems. Dr Sandra Scicluna (Senior Lecturer) and Dr Trevor Calafato (Lecturer) at the Department of Criminology, Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta, took part in this COST Action for Malta.
Rather than providing a less expensive and more effective approach to punishment, in most countries supervision has grown at the same time as imprisonment, creating more expansive and more expensive penal systems which penetrate more deeply into the lives of increasing numbers of people.
The network (COST Action IS1106 Offender Supervision in Europe, see www.offendersupervision.eu) has spent four years reviewing existing research and developing 6 pilot studies exploring different aspects of offender supervision, whether imposed in lieu of a sentence, as a sentence or after a custodial sentence.
The researchers have called for European countries to apply two core principles to the development of their justice systems:
- Decisions about imposing and revoking supervision must be bound by proportionality. No one should be subject to more demanding or intrusive supervision than their offending deserves.
- Supervision must be delivered in ways that actively minimize unintended and unnecessary pains both for those subject to supervision and for others affected by it (for example, family members).
The Impact on Malta
There are more people on supervision than in prison. This statement shows the importance of such work for Malta as it gives the opportunity for researchers to compare research findings and for practitioners to learn about other jurisdictions. This is especially important in light of the EU new framework decision on the transfer of offenders under supervision. This action gave us the opportunity to research the experience of being placed under supervision as well as the decision making process in supervision. The results were shown during the final conference, which was also attended by the Director for Probation and Parole ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ for Malta.
Further information
The final report is available .
are available for download.
Contact details: Professor Fergus McNeill (Chair of the Action)
Fergus.McNeill@glasgow.ac.uk
+44 (0)7795 252823
National contact: Dr Sandra Scicluna (Committee Member of the Action)
sandra.scicluna@um.edu.mt
+356 7970 4551
COST in Malta is managed by the ‘Malta Council of Science and Technology’.
The opinions expressed in this press release and associated documents are the sole responsibility of the authors, and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.