We work at the international, regional and country level to raise awareness of the unnecessary use of imprisonment. We promote alternative measures and sentences, which in many instances are more proportionate and more likely to reduce re-offending. We support the establishment of probation systems, and help those in place to be more effective. We also work to develop and pilot alternative sentencing programmes to increase the range of options available to courts.
- We promote the use of non-custodial sentences for minor and non-violent offences and international standards such as the Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules) to national governments, parliamentarians, professionals working in the criminal justice system and the judiciary.
- We promote gender-sensitive alternatives for women, in line with the UN Bangkok Rules, which take into account gender differences in, for example, care-taking responsibilities and vulnerability to (sexual) violence, as well as the social and cultural contexts in which women live.
- We advocate for alternative social and public health responses to involvement with drugs, rather than prosecution and imprisonment.
- We support state authorities to establish alternatives to pre-trial detention and alternative sanctions, such as restorative justice and community sentences, and we work with other criminal justice professionals such as the judiciary to promote their use.
- We examine the current use of alternatives to imprisonment and assess and document the key barriers to their use (or expansion) as a key solution to the global prison overcrowding crisis.
- We work with a wide range of stakeholders to promote and develop effective probation systems. Our innovative, project-funded reform work on probation systems is based on partnerships with government authorities, probation departments and NGO partners, including the Confederation of European Probation (CEP).
- We raise the overuse of imprisonment and gaps in the international framework with international and regional intergovernmental organisations.