Promoting non-discriminatory alternatives to imprisonment across Europe (2021-2023)

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee in partnership with the University of Coimbra is taking part in the EU-funded, Penal Reform International-led project for promoting non-discriminatory alternatives to imprisonment across Europe (PRI ALT EUR – Promoting non-discriminatory alternatives to imprisonment across Europe, JUST-JCOO-AG-2020, 101007466).

Our project contributes to the implementation of the EU Council Conclusions on alternative measures to detention through analysis of the current use and implementation of alternative non-custodial sanctions. The project gives focuses on how alternatives are applied and implemented for vulnerable and minority groups across European Union member states.

In this project, we conducted extensive research (empirical research, review, analysis) into:

• the application of alternatives to imprisonment in Hungary to provide a country report that feeds into an international comparative research paper on the subject;
• Hungarian country report on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the implementation of non-custodial sanctions in the country that served as input to an international comparative study;
• Hungarian hard law and soft law relating to the imposition of non-custodial sanctions with regard to vulnerable social groups:
  • our review and analysis document is available here,
  • and our tentative recommendations on the Hungarian sentencing guideline document and practice is available here (only in Hungarian).

Additionally,

• we conducted extensive awareness-raising and training activities for members of the probation service, judiciary and other relevant criminal justice stakeholders in Hungary:
  • together with Penal Reform International, we drafted a professional manual for promoting non-discrimination in the application and delivery of non-custodial sanctions and measures, and other tools and research;
  • we held a 3-day long training event for a wide range of professional stakeholders with the support and participation of international experts (Rob Allen and Kieran McCartan), all training materials are available on this link (most of them in Hungarian but a few of them both in English and Hungarian);
• in cooperation with Budapest Esély Nonprofit Kft., we designed an improved way of implementing community service that specifically address the challenges and problems the project has found are faced by vulnerable and minority groups to demonstrate practically how these can be overcome (in the four annexes of this document, you can find the improved methodology of a screening questionnaire, an employment plan and an individual development plan tailored to different vulnerable client profiles);
• we published a national policy brief (in Hungarian) on how to promote access to alternative sanctions in Hungary with the focus of non-discrimination;
• and finally, we held a dissemination event for national stakeholders to discuss the improved design of implementing community service and the recommendations of the Hungarian policy brief.