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The European Rules on community sanctions and measures: Their value, origins, effects and implications
For the past thirty years in Europe and in many others parts of the world, prison and probation agencies have been preoccupied with the question of ‘What Works?’. This is an attempt to find out which regimes, methods and programmes succeed in reducing reoffending (or, more accurately, rates of reconviction). The starting point of the Council of Europe, however, is different. Effectiveness matters (of course), but penal policies and practices must uphold and promote the human rights affirmed in the European Convention.
This article examines the Council of Europe frames these debates and how they can be applied in practice.