Our analysis on the imposition of alternative sanctions in the light of domestic legal sources with regard to vulnerable groups

For the purpose of promoting the Council conclusions on alternative measures to detention: the use of non-custodial sanctions and measures in the field of criminal justice (2019/C 422/06) the Hungarian Helsinki Committee takes part in the project called “The promotion of access to alternatives to imprisonment on an equal basis” funded by the European Union. In this framework, a study has been carried out to identify the relevant national binding and non-binding sources of law, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups. The study is available here, in which we explore the following:

• the causes and problems of the increase in the domestic prison population despite a downward trend in crime,
• the national mandatory and non-mandatory legal sources on alternative sanctions to imprisonment,
• the lack of consideration of the specific perspectives of vulnerable groups,
• qualitative interviews with judges on the sentencing practices in relation to vulnerable social groups,
• the 56. BK opinion on factors that shall be taken into account when imposing a sentence,
• and the problems with the 56. BK opinion.