Mapping probation futures: Norway

Abstract

In 2008 the Norwegian government published a White Paper called Punishment that Works, outlining correctional policy for a period of five to ten years. The central message of the White Paper could be summarized as 'less use of prison and better rehabilitation'. It was intended that a decrease in the use of prison would lead to an increase in the use of community-based sentences and ways of serving prison sentences. Better rehabilitation implies increased use of services and facilities outside the prison system. Both tendencies favour an intensified development of probation work. Whilst the future for probation work in Norway therefore generally looks positive the authors also consider some of the challenges to the proposed policy.

Probation practice, desistance and the penal field in Norway

“…The research that does address probation tends, like much penal exceptionalism research, to take a systemic, top-down perspective. Ploeg and Sandlie (2011), Johnsen and Fridhov (2019), and Todd-Kvam and Ugelvik (2019) take this perspective in providing systemic accounts of how probation should work in the eyes of policy makers, while identifying challenges to delivery of these policy goals. Similarly, Ploeg (2017) describes how central features of the Norwegian Correctional Service apply to probation, highlighting discretionary authority as a key element of community sanctions.…”

A mixed market for probation services

“…It sets these proposals in the context of related moves to open up the criminal justice market made by previous governments and in wider developments in social policy and public sector reform. Debates about the marketization of public services and whether punishment can ever be a proper source of private profit are taking place in a number of jurisdictions (see Teague, 2011 andPloeg andSandlie, 2011 for contrasting perspectives) but the focus of this article is on developments in England and Wales.…”

Моделі Публічного Управління Пенітенціарними Установами: Міжнародний Досвід Та Європейські Стандарти

“…Центральним постулатом політики виправлення засуджених Норвегії («білої книги») є «краща реабілітація та менше використання в'язниць, що передбачає надання послуг за межами пенітенціарної системи. Тому в Норвегії розвинена система пробації» [18]. Це передбачає приділення значної уваги налагодженню співпраці виправних служб та місцевих органів влади (муніципалітетів) із метою надання засудженим комплексних послуг під час та після відбування покарання [19].…”