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Welcome to the EuroPris Knowledge Management System. The table below shows questions and responses from European National Agencies. Select a question for more information or use the filters on the left to narrow down questions based on Agency or Category.
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Introduction: Slovak Republic tries to set the indicators and parameters of public administration bodies that indicate quality of fulfilment of their social function. One of the indicators that is being considered in case of prison service is recidivism, i.e. a repeated commission of an offence by persons released from prison sentence execution. Concerning the binding effect of this indicator, the conceptual definition is crucial. Currently, when statistically evaluating internally, the Slovak prison service considers a reoffender each prisoner who is not serving the prison sentence for the first time regardless the time period that elapsed from his/her release and reasons of his/her return. As we would like to compare the recidivism indicators also with foreign partners, we are considering an amendment of its conceptual definition and unification with the prevailing international reporting.
We define penitentiary recidivism as the new entry to prison after being released accused or convicted of a new offense. This concept of recidivism is used by the follow-up studies on the rate of recidivism that we periodically do. At the same time as assessing the criminal career of inmates in prison, we distinguish between primary: it is the first time they have been convicted (any type of conviction) for a crime, or repeat offenders, had previously been convicted of an offense.
According to your prison service, recidivism is considered as (please, choose one reply that matches your definition of recidivism the best):(a)any unlawful conduct of a released prisoner regardless the imposed type of penalty
Does your prison service consider as recidivism also a failure to fulfil an obligation imposed by the court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence?No
When reporting recidivism, does your prison service take into account also the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner from prison sentence execution?Penitentiary services consider recidivism when the person makes a new crime after being released, regardless of the time elapsed. But the judicial system does not consider repeat offenders who commit a crime and previously had committed crimes but the time for the cancellation of criminal records has elapsed. This period is variable according to the crime
Does your prison service report statistically recidivism differently if the prisoner commits the same or similar offence for which he/she has already been serving the prison sentence in the past (offence with the same/similar object)?The statistical study of the recidivism rate analyses this in general and also in a differentiated way according to different variables, some of them are the crime for which he was convicted and the type of the new crime.
Is recidivism a criterion of the assessment of the work of prison service?YES
Recidivism is defined as relapse into new crime during a period of 2 years from the date of release or from the date of a suspended sentence with supervision and with or without community service Furthermore the consequence of the new crime must be either suspended prison sentence with supervision and with or without community service or unsuspended prison sentence within the same 2-year period.
According to your prison service, recidivism is considered as (please, choose one reply that matches your definition of recidivism the best):b) according to the above definition of recidivism the consequence of the new crime must be either suspended prison sentence with supervision and with or without community service or unsuspended prison sentence
Does your prison service consider as recidivism also a failure to fulfil an obligation imposed by the court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence?No
When reporting recidivism, does your prison service take into account also the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner from prison sentence execution?Yes, two years from date of release or date of suspended sentence
Does your prison service report statistically recidivism differently if the prisoner commits the same or similar offence for which he/she has already been serving the prison sentence in the past (offence with the same/similar object)?No
Is recidivism a criterion of the assessment of the work of prison service?No, there is no criterion regarding recidivism in the Prisons and Probation Service annual contract with the Ministry of Justice
(a).
According to your prison service, recidivism is considered as (please, choose one reply that matches your definition of recidivism the best): Does your prison service consider as recidivism also a failure to fulfil an obligation imposed by the court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence?This would be considered non-compliance rather the recidivism.
When reporting recidivism, does your prison service take into account also the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner from prison sentence execution?No.
Does your prison service report statistically recidivism differently if the prisoner commits the same or similar offence for which he/she has already been serving the prison sentence in the past (offence with the same/similar object)?See attached link for a full exposition of how reconviction data are presented. https://www.gov.scot/publications/reconviction-rates-scotland-2015-16-offender-cohort/
Is recidivism a criterion of the assessment of the work of prison service?No.
General answer to all questions. The Cluster Analysis of the Policy Department of the Custodial Institutions Agency calculates detention recidivism. It’s a basic calculation in which the percentage of people is determined who return to prison within two years after their release from prison, regardless of the type of crime or whether they are convicted or not. The Research and Documentation Centre (WODC) of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Safety calculates recidivism in a much more extensive way. They follow different groups to determine their recidivism (amongst them former adult detainees and former detained juveniles). Furthermore, different kinds of recidivism are being calculated, like general recidivism and specific recidivism. We will include two documents. One of them explains the methodology that the WODC uses (the-dutch-recidivism-monitor-2011-20110803_tcm28-78143.pdf). The other one is the report showing the latest recidivism figures as calculated by the WODC (Cahier 2019-10_Summary_tcm28-396009.pdf). These documents will provide you with the answers to your questions. If you have any other questions, of course we are willing to answer them.
According to your prison service, recidivism is considered as (please, choose one reply that matches your definition of recidivism the best): Does your prison service consider as recidivism also a failure to fulfil an obligation imposed by the court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence? When reporting recidivism, does your prison service take into account also the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner from prison sentence execution? Does your prison service report statistically recidivism differently if the prisoner commits the same or similar offence for which he/she has already been serving the prison sentence in the past (offence with the same/similar object)? Is recidivism a criterion of the assessment of the work of prison service?Attachments:
Any unlawful conduct of a released prisoner regardless the imposed type of penalty
According to your prison service, recidivism is considered as (please, choose one reply that matches your definition of recidivism the best):Yes- see Reconviction Data paper. any unlawful conduct of a released prisoner regardless the imposed type of penalty https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/publications/27-2018-adult-and-youth-reoffending-northern-ireland-2015-16-cohort
Does your prison service consider as recidivism also a failure to fulfil an obligation imposed by the court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence?No- NIPS considers recidivism as a released prisoner committing a new offence after release.
When reporting recidivism, does your prison service take into account also the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner from prison sentence execution?Yes- see Reconviction Data paper- the period is 12 months post release
Does your prison service report statistically recidivism differently if the prisoner commits the same or similar offence for which he/she has already been serving the prison sentence in the past (offence with the same/similar object)?No – there is a single measure of recidivism in this regard with the individual recorded as having re-offended irrespective of the nature of either the initial or subsequent offence(s).
Is recidivism a criterion of the assessment of the work of prison service?Yes; the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland(CJINI) publish independent evaluation reports and include recidivism as a measure of effectiveness (although there are many caveats in using only this information)
Article 23 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania established „Repeat offence shall mean a situation when a person already convicted for a premeditated crime which he committed after attaining the age of majority, where his prior conviction has not expired yet or has not been expunged in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws, repeatedly commits one or several premeditated crimes. Such a person shall be considered a repeat offender.”
According to your prison service, recidivism is considered as (please, choose one reply that matches your definition of recidivism the best):(a) any unlawful conduct of a released prisoner regardless the imposed type of penalty
Does your prison service consider as recidivism also a failure to fulfil an obligation imposed by the court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence?No
When reporting recidivism, does your prison service take into account also the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner from prison sentence execution?When reporting recidivism, time period is not taken into account. Repeat offence shall be considered dangerous, and the offender may be recognised as a dangerous repeat offender by a court where this person: 1) commits a new grave crime while having an unexpired conviction for the commission of a grave crime; 2) already being a repeat offender, commits a new grave crime; 3) already being a repeat offender, where at least one of the crimes constituting a repeat offence is a grave crime, commits a new serious crime; 4) commits a new serious crime while having three prior convictions for the commission of serious crimes.
Does your prison service report statistically recidivism differently if the prisoner commits the same or similar offence for which he/she has already been serving the prison sentence in the past (offence with the same/similar object)?No. Also see answer 1
Is recidivism a criterion of the assessment of the work of prison service?Yes
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The definition of recidivism is determined by the Criminal Code (Act of C 2012, Section 459. 31.) ‘Recidivist’ shall mean the perpetrator of a crime of intent, if such person was previously sentenced to an executable term of imprisonment for a crime committed intentionally, and three years have not yet passed since the last day of serving the term of imprisonment or the day when it ceases to be enforceable until the commission of another criminal act; a) ‘habitual recidivist’ shall mean any recidivist who commits on both occasions the same crime or a crime similar in nature; b) ‘repeat offender’ shall mean a person who has been sentenced to an executable term of imprisonment as a recidivist prior to the commission of a crime of intent, and three years have not yet passed since the last day of serving the term of imprisonment or the day when it ceases to be enforceable until the commission of another criminal act punishable by imprisonment; c) ‘repeat offender with a history of violence’ shall mean a repeat offender convicted for violent crime against the person on all three occasions previously.
According to your prison service, recidivism is considered as (please, choose one reply that matches your definition of recidivism the best):See above
Does your prison service consider as recidivism also a failure to fulfil an obligation imposed by the court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence?Based on the legal definition detailed in the previous question, a failure to fulfill an obligation imposed by a court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence is not considered as recidivism.
When reporting recidivism, does your prison service take into account also the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner from prison sentence execution?Considering the fact that the Criminal Code defines the grade of recidivism based on the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner, our reports must contain the time factor.
Does your prison service report statistically recidivism differently if the prisoner commits the same or similar offence for which he/she has already been serving the prison sentence in the past (offence with the same/similar object)?If a data-request differentiates the formations of recidivism described by the Criminal Code, then yes. If a data-request is about recidivism in general, we report the summary of all the formations of recidivism described by the Criminal Code.
Is recidivism a criterion of the assessment of the work of prison service?The fact of recidivism doesn’t influence the employment of inmates, because one of the main goals of the Hungarian Prison Service is the total employment. So prisoners – who are capable to do so – are obligated to work, irrespectively of recidivism. But regarding to the type of work or potential workplaces the form of redicivism shall be taken into consideration (e.g. repeat offenders with a history of violence are not allowed to work at an external workplace).
Firstly, according with Section 27 of the Criminal law, Recidivism of a criminal offence is constituted by a new intentional criminal offence committed by a person after the conviction of such person for an intentional criminal offence committed earlier, if at the time of commission of the new criminal offence the criminal record for it has not been set aside or extinguished in accordance with the procedures laid down in Law. Secondly, according with the published research "Probation client criminal offence recidivism: comparison of 2013 and 2016 cohorts" (available on State Probation Service webpage https://www.vpd.gov.lv/upload/petijumi/2019/Recidiva_petijums_2019.pdf), to identify recidivism was chosen a criterion – the person(s) included in the sample during the recidivism measurement period have performed activity(s) for which: 1) criminal proceedings have been initiated; 2) the person included in the sample within the framework of the initiated criminal proceedings is designated the status of a person against who criminal proceedings have been initiated, is detained, under suspicion or accused, or the criminal proceedings have concluded with a conviction or decision for sentence/correctional compulsory measure. In other words, recidivisms is when repeated criminal proceedings is initiated within the recidivism measuring time period (there are different recidivism measuring time periods – 6 months from release/sentencing, 1 year etc.). Arguments why such definition was chosen: 1. The definition in the Criminal law (Section 27 of the Criminal law) did not fit for us because it is connected with criminal record extinguishing and the periods for criminal record extinguishing differs. Thus probation client groups with different criminal record extinguishing periods cannot be compared. If two persons commits a new offence after 3 years and one of them has had their criminal record extinguished, but the other has not, then it appears that one for one offender it will be recidivism, but for the other it will not be considered recidivism. Because of this we did not use the definition of the Criminal law and looked for different criminological recidivism definitions. 2. One of the definitions that was considered but not chosen was "Proven reoffence" i.e. the offender has committed a new offense and their guilt is proven. This is a good recidivism definition if you are researching convicted/released offenders in a more distant past. However, if we are looking at recently released convicted persons (1-2 years ago convicted/released) then the "proven reoffence" data will greatly depend on the work speed of the law enforcement agencies. As the Service is more interested in convicted/released persons in the recent past, more general definition was chosen (a new criminal proceedings have been initiated). We are fully aware that this definition is not perfect (definition does not account for latent/unregistered offences, and part of the criminal proceedings are terminated and the person is excused), but it is still considered that the recidivism measurements according with this definition are the most precise and reflect the actual recidivism levels the best.
According to your prison service, recidivism is considered as (please, choose one reply that matches your definition of recidivism the best):A
Does your prison service consider as recidivism also a failure to fulfil an obligation imposed by the court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence?No, these cases when person is released from prison and does not fulfil the set obligations and therefore returns to prison are not considered as recidivism.
When reporting recidivism, does your prison service take into account also the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner from prison sentence execution?Currently there is not a time period after which a repeated offence is not considered as recidivism. However, from both Latvian and foreign research it is widely known that the more time person spends in freedom in the society the smaller chance that they will commit a new offence. Within the risk assessment framework we usually speak about a 2-5 year period. Taking into account or not taking into account the time period depends on the goal of the recidivism measurement. If the recidivism measurement is intended for the empirical evaluation of risk assessment tools or for the assessment of intervention/correction programme effectiveness, then the recidivism measurements for 2-5 years after release is the optimal recidivism measurement period.
Does your prison service report statistically recidivism differently if the prisoner commits the same or similar offence for which he/she has already been serving the prison sentence in the past (offence with the same/similar object)?Information about recidivism is included in the quarterly reports of the Registry department regarding prisoner count, transfers and composition. However, in the previously mentioned reports it is not noted if the person who is repeatedly imprisoned, was placed in prison for the same/similar offence. In State Probation Service research 3 types of recidivism is distinguished: - Person has committed any new offence (general recidivism); - The new offence is linked to non-sexual violence or threats of violence (violence recidivism); - The new offence is a sexual nature offence/ criminal offence against morality and sexual inviolability (sexual offence recidivism) Because of this, the clients in the system for non-sexual violence recidivism or sexual offence recidivism are evaluated regarding if their offence was the same or similar. For other probation client groups this evaluation is not implemented.
Is recidivism a criterion of the assessment of the work of prison service?Recidivism research and its results are used to assess the work, but not as a criterion. Recidivism research results are used for: - Criminal sentence and its execution policy planning – research results are presented to the Ministry of Justice and are used to identify the weak spots of policy and practice as well as to encourage / justify the necessary changes to sentence policy. - Service uses the research results to identify priority groups (probation clients with the highest risk potential) and to appropriately plan the service resources and time. - Researches are used to empirically test/develop the assessment tools as well as for validation researches, and assessment of correctional intervention effectiveness (probation programmes / programmes implemented in imprisonment places)
Out of those two options, it is more like (a) but not restricted to reoffending amongst offenders who have only been released from prison. The Ministry of Justice measure proven reoffending (ie. proven recidivism) based on all offenders who received a caution, a non-custodial conviction or who were released from custody in a given three-month period and who then went on to subsequently reoffend within a 12 month follow-up period (or within a further six-month waiting period to allow the offence to be proven in court).
According to your prison service, recidivism is considered as (please, choose one reply that matches your definition of recidivism the best):Out of those two options, it is more like (a) but not restricted to reoffending amongst offenders who have only been released from prison. The Ministry of Justice measure proven reoffending (ie. proven recidivism) based on all offenders who received a caution, a non-custodial conviction or who were released from custody in a given three-month period and who then went on to subsequently reoffend within a 12 month follow-up period (or within a further six-month waiting period to allow the offence to be proven in court).
Does your prison service consider as recidivism also a failure to fulfil an obligation imposed by the court or restriction within the trial period of the conditional release from prison sentence?Proven reoffending, as measured by the Ministry of Justice, do not include breach offences.
When reporting recidivism, does your prison service take into account also the time period elapsed from release of the prisoner from prison sentence execution?For the reoffending rates related specifically to offenders who had served a custodial sentence, the reoffending follow-up period commences from time of release and last for 12 months. Type of reoffence committed is also recorded.
Does your prison service report statistically recidivism differently if the prisoner commits the same or similar offence for which he/she has already been serving the prison sentence in the past (offence with the same/similar object)?It is reported in the same way. The proven reoffending statistics published on a quarterly basis present a number of breakdowns, including statistics on index offence group (ie. the proven offence that leads to an offender being included in the cohort) by reoffence group – tables showing the latest figures can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/proven-reoffending-statistics-july-to-september-2017 An ad-hoc data tool was also recently published where figures can be extracted for index offence group and disposal type (ie sentence type) by reoffence group – this can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/797424/Reoffence_type_data_tool.xlsx
Is recidivism a criterion of the assessment of the work of prison service?Prison performance ratings are based on 6 overarching outcomes measures. However, proven reoffending is not included within those measures. The latest statistics on prison performance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-performance-ratings-2018-to-2019