Alternative measures a “vaccine” against criminal infection in prisons
Skopje, 30 May 2021 (MIA) - A total of 441 people got a second chance over the past two years after having committed a crime, and alternative measures were offered to them. These measures, embodying the universal stipulations of modern criminal law, as per prof. Nikola Tupancheski of the Iustinianus Primus Faculty of Law, are just a “red light” indicating that someone is moving in the wrong direction, and if we apply them properly, we can stop a more severe crime.
According to the Criminal Code, the alternative measures that can be given to perpetrators, alongside fines and jail time are: probation, supervised probation, conditional cease of the criminal proceedings, community service, court reprimand and house arrest.
The alternative measures are more thoroughly regulated under the Probation Law adopted in 2015, which focuses on things related to probation and the procedure required to conduct the alternative measures.
According to the law, since then and until 2020, 441 people got probation. Most of them came from the Probations Office in Skopje, and the least were in Shtip.
The goal of the alternative measures is to avoid punishments for lesser crimes when it’s unnecessary due to criminal law protection, when it can be anticipated that the goal of the penalty can be achieved with a warning with a threat of punishment, such as probation, a warning, i.e. a court reprimand, or measures of helping and supervising the perpetrator’s behavior when released.
Marjan Spasovski, Head of the Department for Execution of Sanctions, tells MIA that they are trying to additionally motivate judges to hand down alternative measures, because he believes that it’s a way to bring them closer to European norms and standards and it’d be a positive step forward.
“An additional benefit to alternative measures is that people convicted for lesser crimes get smaller punishments, we are additionally reducing the risk of criminal infection in prisons because it oftentimes happens for a person who got convicted for a lesser crime to be imprisoned and to get out more dangerous, so it’s riskier for them to be out after serving jail time instead of before,” Spasovski says.
He shares with MIA that probation officers from primary courts visit local prisons and hand out brochures once a month.
“The goal is to get the convicted persons acquainted with their probationary release rights and the alternative measures they’re entitled to after serving half of their sentence etc. That way, we are trying to re-socialize and reintegrate them into society, as well as relieving housing capacities because it is truly a serious expense for the country, to have to give each convicted person three meals a day, legal aid, healthcare etc,” Spasovski says.
He adds that the Department has signed a memorandum with the City of Skopje, through which, all convicted people actively participate in multiple activities such as disinfecting and fumigating public transportation buses, community service in Parks and Greenery, Streets and Roads, and the zoo.
“The number of probation cases is growing, and we will also focus on it in the future, because that directly reduces recidivism, also known as repeat offenders,” Spasovski says.
He adds that our society is still somewhat distrustful of probation, but the problem is in the people, because they are not informed enough about what probation is and what it offers.
In terms of breaking probation, he says that the number barely reaches 5% and it’s sufficiently sanctioned, and the people lose their chance/
Prof. Nikola Tupancheski says that the alternative measures are practically an integral part of any modern criminally legal system of criminal sanctions. He also believes that there is insufficient application of these alternative measures.
“We need to be consequential to the end. This form of social reaction is always related to the lighter forms of criminal actions. A fact is that the new Criminal Code is going in that direction, to give alternative measures for lesser crimes,” Tupancheski says.
He says that the alternative measures should remain and to also be expanded.
“We’re moving in a positive direction in terms of applying the alternative measures, and I believe this tendency will keep moving forward so that not just the courts, not just the penitentiaries, but most of the Macedonian society, so there are other institutions that should be given jurisdiction to expand the process of application of alternative measures,” Tupancheski says. In conclusion, he says that the alternative measures are a better option, with all their pros and cons, than a prison sentence, because the avoid the “criminal infection” phenomenon.
Probation is a ticket towards re-socialization and reintegration of perpetrators of crime
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights tells MIA that alongside the need to engage professionals to re-socialize people in penitentiaries, there is a need to develop and implement appropriate re-socialization programs that will help convicts fully reintegrate themselves in society.
“It’s necessary to solve all systemic issues that have been present in the penitentiary system for years, such as improving material conditions, enabling uninterrupted access to healthcare and education and improving post-penal aid that is also exceptionally important when it comes to re-socializing convicts. That is the only way to help these people to become fully reintegrated in society and reducing recidivism rates,” the Committee says.
They say that, although the Probation Law started being applied in 2016, it hasn’t come to fruition in practice because courts rarely give defendants alternative measures.
“More local probational offices opened throughout the country this year, so we expect judges to use the rulings from the Probation Law more and to cooperate with probation workers to determine the type and height of the criminal sanctions for the defendants,” the Committee adds.
They believe that the alternative measures will not only contribute to better reintegration of convicts, but they will also relieve overcrowding in prisons, and community service as an alternative measure will have a positive influence on the local community, as opposed to prison time and probation that often has a risk of recidivism.
According to MIA’s analysis, overcrowding is the worst in the Shtip prison, but alternative measures are being applied the least there. The fact that prisons are the mirrors of a society remains, and their overcrowding can be relieved through alternative measures. The positive trend is there, it’s all down to the dynamic to show how effective the measures are.
Angela Rajchevska
Aleksandar Atanasov
Photos by Frosina Naskovikj
Translated by Dragana Knezhevikj
The goal of the alternative measures is to avoid punishments for lesser crimes when it’s unnecessary due to criminal law protection, when it can be anticipated that the goal of the penalty can be achieved with a warning with a threat of punishment, such as probation, a warning, i.e. a court reprimand, or measures of helping and supervising the perpetrator’s behavior when released.
Marjan Spasovski, Head of the Department for Execution of Sanctions, tells MIA that they are trying to additionally motivate judges to hand down alternative measures, because he believes that it’s a way to bring them closer to European norms and standards and it’d be a positive step forward.
“An additional benefit to alternative measures is that people convicted for lesser crimes get smaller punishments, we are additionally reducing the risk of criminal infection in prisons because it oftentimes happens for a person who got convicted for a lesser crime to be imprisoned and to get out more dangerous, so it’s riskier for them to be out after serving jail time instead of before,” Spasovski says.
He shares with MIA that probation officers from primary courts visit local prisons and hand out brochures once a month.
“The goal is to get the convicted persons acquainted with their probationary release rights and the alternative measures they’re entitled to after serving half of their sentence etc. That way, we are trying to re-socialize and reintegrate them into society, as well as relieving housing capacities because it is truly a serious expense for the country, to have to give each convicted person three meals a day, legal aid, healthcare etc,” Spasovski says.
He adds that the Department has signed a memorandum with the City of Skopje, through which, all convicted people actively participate in multiple activities such as disinfecting and fumigating public transportation buses, community service in Parks and Greenery, Streets and Roads, and the zoo.
“The number of probation cases is growing, and we will also focus on it in the future, because that directly reduces recidivism, also known as repeat offenders,” Spasovski says.
He adds that our society is still somewhat distrustful of probation, but the problem is in the people, because they are not informed enough about what probation is and what it offers.
In terms of breaking probation, he says that the number barely reaches 5% and it’s sufficiently sanctioned, and the people lose their chance/
Prof. Nikola Tupancheski says that the alternative measures are practically an integral part of any modern criminally legal system of criminal sanctions. He also believes that there is insufficient application of these alternative measures.
“We need to be consequential to the end. This form of social reaction is always related to the lighter forms of criminal actions. A fact is that the new Criminal Code is going in that direction, to give alternative measures for lesser crimes,” Tupancheski says.
He says that the alternative measures should remain and to also be expanded.
“We’re moving in a positive direction in terms of applying the alternative measures, and I believe this tendency will keep moving forward so that not just the courts, not just the penitentiaries, but most of the Macedonian society, so there are other institutions that should be given jurisdiction to expand the process of application of alternative measures,” Tupancheski says. In conclusion, he says that the alternative measures are a better option, with all their pros and cons, than a prison sentence, because the avoid the “criminal infection” phenomenon.
Probation is a ticket towards re-socialization and reintegration of perpetrators of crime
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights tells MIA that alongside the need to engage professionals to re-socialize people in penitentiaries, there is a need to develop and implement appropriate re-socialization programs that will help convicts fully reintegrate themselves in society.
“It’s necessary to solve all systemic issues that have been present in the penitentiary system for years, such as improving material conditions, enabling uninterrupted access to healthcare and education and improving post-penal aid that is also exceptionally important when it comes to re-socializing convicts. That is the only way to help these people to become fully reintegrated in society and reducing recidivism rates,” the Committee says.
They say that, although the Probation Law started being applied in 2016, it hasn’t come to fruition in practice because courts rarely give defendants alternative measures.
“More local probational offices opened throughout the country this year, so we expect judges to use the rulings from the Probation Law more and to cooperate with probation workers to determine the type and height of the criminal sanctions for the defendants,” the Committee adds.
They believe that the alternative measures will not only contribute to better reintegration of convicts, but they will also relieve overcrowding in prisons, and community service as an alternative measure will have a positive influence on the local community, as opposed to prison time and probation that often has a risk of recidivism.
According to MIA’s analysis, overcrowding is the worst in the Shtip prison, but alternative measures are being applied the least there. The fact that prisons are the mirrors of a society remains, and their overcrowding can be relieved through alternative measures. The positive trend is there, it’s all down to the dynamic to show how effective the measures are.
Angela Rajchevska
Aleksandar Atanasov
Photos by Frosina Naskovikj
Translated by Dragana Knezhevikj 
