European norms, policy and practice

Abstract

We now have evidence that there is a specifically European approach to key aspects of punishment. There is a pan-European rejection of the death penalty, a European approach to prisoners’ rights, and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture as a strong monitoring body, and we also share the idea that imprisonment must be used as ultima ratio (van Zyl Smit and Snacken, 2009). What we want to know is whether this approach extends to punishment and supervision enforced outside prisons – that is, to community sanctions as sentences and supervision measures before or instead of trial.