Research project AP/18 (Research action AP)
Since the nineties, Belgian policy makers have encouraged the use of community penalties. Community service orders, training orders and penal mediation have been introduced in 1994. In 2002 community service has been implemented as an autonomous penalty. Although there has been a lot of lip service by the government, their implementation was not been very successful from a quantitative point of view. However, with the introduction of community service as an autonomous penalty, this trend seems to turn around.
A lot of different actors are involved in the administration of the community penalties. The most important partners are the Houses of Justice and the local organisations responsible for the coordination and administration of community penalties in the community. Since 1996 a Section Alternative Measures within the Directorate-general Execution of Sanctions and Measures is been responsible for the development, implementation and support for community penalties in Belgium.
With the introduction of community service and training orders, two grant schemes have been developed, the so called ‘National Grant Scheme’ and the ‘Global Plan’. The 'National Grant Scheme’ finances potential projects on the budget of the department of Justice. These projects are innovative with regard to treatment or training, or require specialised staff. ‘Victim in the picture’, training programmes for sexual delinquents, training programmes for traffic offenders, and ‘Offender in the picture’, are examples of such programmes. The ‘Global Plan’, which in fact is a programme to create jobs, allows the Federal Justice department to make agreements with local authorities and cities to hire additional staff for the administration of community oriented measures (so called GAM-projects). Critics point out that this way of subsidising has lead to fragmentation, large differences -geographically and with respect to content-, and an inadequate demand and supply relationship. In addition there are organisations that offer services on a voluntary basis to provide the administration of community penalties.
The aim of this research is to draft an inventory of the available offer - taking into account the various grant schemes and the voluntary offer from (civil) society- and to provide an analysis and evaluation of the bottlenecks in the administration of community service and training orders. This must lead to recommendations to resolve these problems and to suggestions for possible expansion of the offer for the administration of community penalties, taking the limits within the society into account.
Given the complexity (i.a. concerning the division of competences); the varied nature of the projects and the limited duration of the research project (10 months), the subject of this research is limited to community service and training orders for adults. Attention will be paid to specific differences between Flanders, the Brussels region and the Walloon provinces.
From a methodological point of view, a multi-methodology is chosen and we will conduct: (1) a review of the literature and an analysis of field documents (annual reports, existing analyses and evaluations from the field), (2) individual interviews with key actors (3) focus groups with key actors (4) a consultation of the entire field using self administered questionnaires. The survey should allow for conclusions on a countrywide basis and at the same time permit to fully map the existing diversity of the field. These different techniques of data collection have to allow to gather information of quantitative as well as of qualitative nature.
The final report will present the following research results:
- An inventory of the different actors / projects involved and the different ways of administration of community service and training orders in Belgium;
- Diagrams of the different trajectories of the administration of community service and training orders;
- An analysis of the bottlenecks in the administration of community service and training orders and a summarising scheme of the results;
- Recommendations, looking for a greater uniformity in the administration and subsidizing of community service and training orders, however taking into account local differences and specific needs with regard to punishment. Recommendations looking for the exploration of other possibilities.
Werken en leren als straf. Onderzoek naar de uitvoering van werkstraffen en leermaatregelen in België : eindrapport = Le travail et la formation comme peines. Recherche sur l’exécution des peines de travail et des injonctions formatives en Belgique : rapport final
Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid 2007 - Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale : 2007 (SP1901)
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