Kriminalomsorgens høgskole og utdanningssenter (KRUS)
Not a member yet
297 research outputs found
Sort by
Vibekes to liv – en utforskning av mulige innganger, - og utganger av en rusmisbrukerkarriere i lys av Akrasia, viljesvakhet og lav selvkontroll.
Get PDFElleve år med forvaring: løslatelse - praksis og rettspraksis - og tilbakefall
Get PDFDe fleste som løslates fra forvaring, løslates av retten, og i en god del saker velger retten å løslate i mot påtalemyndigheten og/eller kriminalomsorgens vilje. Retten har konstatert brudd på EMK artikkel 5 nr. 4 i elleve saker, og det kan stilles spørsmål om antallet er akseptabelt. Tilbakefall til ny kriminalitet blant forvaringsdømte synes å være lik tilbakefallet generelt blant løslate fra fengselsdom. Dette drøftes opp mot rettspraksis i løslatelsessakene for forvaring
Kriseledelse; bare når noe skjer eller som en del av hverdagen?
Get PDFDenne masteroppgaven i risikostyring og sikkerhetsledelse har fokus på kriseledelse og beredskap i kriminalomsorgen. I lys av 22. juli rapportens krav til beredskap, drøftes problemstillingen “Kriseledelse; bare når noe skjer eller som en del av hverdagen?”.
Kriminalomsorgen er en offentlig etat som er pålagt å evaluering av sin beredskap, og oppgaven undersøker dette i forhold til struktur og risikostyring, kriseledelse og ekspertise, øvelser og læring samt sikkerhetskultur og lærende organisasjoner.
Forksningsdesignet er semistrukturert intervju av ti informanter i ledelsesposisjoner i kriminalomsorgen samt teori- og dokumentstudier. Informantene er valgt ut fra deres plassering i organisasjonen, samt ledelses- eller styringsansvar for fengsler med høyt sikkerhetsnivå. Teoristudiene påpeker at kriseledelse setter fokus på tre elementer: Hvordan man forbereder seg på kriser, leder i selve krisesituasjonen og normaliserer forholdene etter en krise. Videre vises det at både formalkompetanse og systematiserte aktiviteter i form av øvelser er essensielt for å utvikle kompetanse på kriseledelse. Min empiri viser imidlertid at viktigste informantene ikke har formalkompetanse i risikostyring og kriseledelse, og videre at de ikke investerer tid eller ressurser til å utvikle sin egen kompetanse for eksempel gjennom øvelser. Kriseledelse synes ikke å være et daglig fokus på ledelsesnivå, ut over en bevissthet om at fengselsleder vil ha kriselederfunksjon hvis en krise inntreffer. Intervjuene er utført med et lite utvalg, og overføringsverdien er dermed begrenset. Det kan imidlertid se ut til at ledere i kriminalomsorgen trenger å utvikle ekspertise på kriseledelse for å ivareta beredskapen på en god måt
Godt begynt er halvt fullendt? : Iverksetting av rusmestringsenheter i norsk kriminalomsorg
Get PDFKriminalomsorgen har i samarbeid med spesialisthelsetjenesten opprettet 13 rusmestrings-enheter som skal tilby innsatte i norske fengsler bedre rusbehandling og rehabilitering. Denne studien undersøker iverksettingsstrategien som ble benyttet ved opprettelsen av disse enhetene. Her diskuteres hva slags organisasjonsmodell som ble valgt ved opprettelse av rusmestringsenhetene og hva som påvirket dette valget, samt aktørenes opplevelse av iverksettingsprosessen. Målsetningen med studien er å gi kunnskap som kan bidra til å styrke videre implementering av rusmestringsenhetene.
Datagrunnlaget består av skiftelige kilder, observasjon og intervju. I alt er det observert ved fire rusmestringsenheter og 20 personer fra sentralt, regionalt og lokalt nivå er intervjuet. For å tolke og forstå empirien benyttes to teoretiske innfallsvinkler. For å belyse valg av organisasjonsmodell ved rusmestringsenhetene og faktorer som kan ha påvirket dette valget, benytter jeg teori om organisasjonsmoter som er avledet fra ny-institusjonell teori, supplert med rasjonell aktør- og kontigensteori. Selve iverksettingsprosessen analyseres ut fra beslutningsorientert iverksettingsteori.
Resultatene av undersøkelsen viser at organiseringen av rusmestringsenhetene ble politisk bestemt. Sverige og Danmarks satsning på behandling av innsatte rusmiddelmisbrukere synes å ha påvirket Norge til å opprette egne rusmestringsenheter. Norge valgte å organisere behandlingen i rusmestringsenhetene som en importert tjeneste hvor spesialisthelsetjenesten skulle være stedig representert og stå for behandlingen, mens sosialfaglig utdannende ble tilsatt for å utføre rehabiliteringsarbeidet sammen med fengselsbetjentene. Valg av organisasjonsmodell for rusmestringsenhetene forklares med at samfunnet i økende grad oppfatter rusmiddelmisbruk som et helseproblem og at fengslene dermed endret sin interne organisering i tråd med de endringer som hadde skjedd i det ordinære behandlings¬apparatet. Kriminalomsorgens adopsjonen av organisasjons-modell forklares også med egeninteresser hos politisk og administrativ ledelse ved at den valgte organisasjonsmodellen imøtekom politiske føringer om økt tverretatlig og -tverrfaglige samarbeid og bidro til å fremstille politisk og administrativ ledelse som handlingskraftige og tidsriktige. Videre forklares adopsjon av ny organisasjons-modell med at den fylte kriminalomsorgens behov for å innføre en modell som kunne styrke effektiviteten i behandlingen av innsatte rusmiddelmisbrukere.
Resultatene fra undersøkelsen viser videre at opprettelsesprosessen gikk fort og at politiske føringer i liten grad ble konkretisert for rusmestringsenhetene. Dette bidro til å skape mye usikkerhet i oppstartsfasen. Prosessen blir i ettertid opplevd som slitsom, men lærerik. Resultatene viser at det har skjedd en målforskyvning fra oppdragsgivers vedtak, både når det gjelder organisering, målsetninger, faglig innhold, bemanning mv. Dels forklares dette med at målene var uklare og styringen svak, og dels med at rusmestringsenhetene er faglig uenige i innholdet i oppdraget. De øremerkede ressursene som ble gitt enhetene ved opprettelse blir vurdert som tilstrekkelige. Resultatene viser imidlertid at kriminalomsorgens regioner og fengselsledere ikke opprettholder ressursbruken. Dette påvirker iverksetting negativt og flere rusmestringsenheter har i dag problemer med å opprettholde driften. Oppdragsgiver ga rusmestringsenhetene et stort lokalt handlingsrom ved utforming av tiltak, samtidig som de valgte organisasjonsmodell og samarbeidspartnere for enhetene. Dette synes å ha begrenset metodeutvikling og læringseffekter under iverksettingen
Forvaring – fra særreaksjon og “straff” til lovens strengeste straff: Ett skritt frem eller ett tilbake?
No full textStraffegjennomføring med elektronisk kontroll: Evalueringsrapport 2: Hva er innhold i straffegjennomføring med elektronisk kontroll?
Get PDFStraffegjennomføring med elektronisk kontroll 2 er andre delrapport laget på oppdrag fra
Kriminalomsorgens sentrale forvaltning (KSF). Hensikten er å evaluere et prøveprosjekt med
elektronisk kontroll (EK) i Norge. Den første rapporten ble utgitt våren -12.
Evalueringsrapport 2 omhandler innholdet i straffegjennomføring med elektronisk kontroll og er en
oppfølging av arbeidet med Stortingsmelding nr. 37 (2007-2008) “Straff som virker - mindre
kriminalitet - tryggere samfunn”. Elektronisk kontroll (EK) er omtalt som et av de sentrale tiltakene i
stortingsmeldingen som et tiltak for å sikre en positiv utvikling og forhindre ny kriminalitet. Det ble
også vist til at EK burde nyttes i de sakene hvor man faktisk mener at dette vil gi bedre mulighet for
rehabilitering.
Å forhindre ny kriminalitet er et av hovedmålene i kriminalomsorgen. Denne rapporten presenterer en
måling av tilbakefall for domfelte som gjennomførte straff med EK i 2008 og 2009. Målingen viser et
differensiert bilde som ikke alltid samsvarer med tilsvarende målinger i andre undersøkelser.
Rapporten viser også til utfordringer knyttet til progresjon og individuell tilrettelegging og behov for
ny kunnskap. Den har også anbefalinger om å styrke utvikling av innhold under
straffegjennomføringen.
Rapporten vil være et bidrag til økt kunnskap om innhold i straffegjennomføring ved bruk av EK og
kan være en viktig bidragsyte
Mannen og kallet: en kulturanalytisk studie av mannlige italienske sykepleiere og deres yrkesidentitet.
No full textItalian male nurses stories of their
profession
Background: For decades, recruitment
of men to the nursing profession
has been less than ten percentage.
What factors contribute to this steady
low recruitment of men to nursing in
Norway?
Objective: The article aims to promote
discussion and new analytical
questions about the low percentage of
men in the Norwegian field of nursing.
Method: The study is based upon cultural
analytical traditions. The data
material is developed through qualitative
in-depth interviews with male
nurses in Italy, plus informal conversations
with key members of the
Italian health care system. The data
analyses have a narrative approach.
Results: Male nurses in Italy profess
an ethical calling to becoming
a nurse.
Conclusion: First, this finding challenges
the notions that the call to
become a nurse is gender specific
and solely related to females. Second,
it supports the assumption that the
small minority of men in the Norwegian
nursing population is culturally
constructed. Most important, the
study provides reasons to believe
that it is possible to achieve gender
balance in the Norwegian nursing
profession.Bakgrunn: I det norske samfunnet
generelt og norsk arbeidsliv spesielt,
er det sterke normer om likestilling
mellom kjønnene. Hva er det da
som gjør at Norge i flere tiår kun
har hatt under ti prosent mannlige
sykepleiere?
Hensikt: Hensikten er å gi impulser
til nye analytiske spørsmål vedrørende
den manglende rekrutteringen
av mannlige sykepleiere i Norge.
Metode: Studien i artikkelen bygger
på kulturanalytiske tradisjoner med
bevisst bruk av kontekstualisering
og komparasjon. Datamaterialet er
utviklet gjennom kvalitative dybdeintervjuer
med mannlige sykepleiere
i Italia og uformelle samtaler
med nøkkelpersoner innenfor det
italienske helsevesenet. Analysen
av intervjuene har en narrativ orientering.
Resultat: Artikkelen viser hvordan
mannlige sykepleiere i Italia
søker og bekjenner seg til yrket
gjennom en tydelig kallsorientering.
Konklusjon: Funnene i studien
utfordrer inngrodde forestillinger
om at sykepleierkallet er kvinnespesifikt.
For det andre underbygger
den forståelsen om at den lave
andelen menn blant norske sykepleiere
er en kulturell og ikke en
naturgitt situasjon. Sist, men ikke
minst skaper den grunnlag for å
tro på at en mer kjønnsbalansert
sykepleie i Norge er mulig å få til
Vold og trusler mot tilsatte i Kriminalomsorgen: Sluttrapport 2004-2010, Mørketall
Get PDFThis report on violence against employees is part of a series of reports, yet it differs from the
others in that it has an overall perspective on developments from 2004 to 2010. The report
concerns one of several main topics in our studies of the problem of violence and threats in the
Correctional Service: violence against employees. The report's analysis is thus a part of the
overall assessment of violent interactions in the Correctional Service.
In the Nordic as well as in the European context, the Norwegian Correctional Service is in a
unique position, in that several researchers over several years have carried out extensive and
continuous research on violence in the Prison and Probation Service. This has led to a sizeable
knowledge capital, both empirical and theoretical, on the problem – a knowledge capital that also
has revealed and brought to awareness a number of known, unknown and hidden aspects of the
problem of violence in the service.Vold og trusler mot tilsatte i kriminalomsorgen er en rapport med et samlet perspektiv på
utviklingen fra 2004 til 2010. Den er en delanalyse i forhold til en totalvurdering av
voldsrelasjoner i kriminalomsorgen. Analysen omfatter både fengslene og kriminalomsorg i
frihet.
Forskningsprosessen er basert på flere metodiske tilnærminger, både innenfor kvantitativ og
kvalitativ metodikk. En stor utfordring har vært å studere mørketall. Metodisk og
definisjonsmessig gir det klare utfordringer å registrere og analysere disse hendelsene.
Rapporten advarer mot enkel bruk av tallmateriale uten å se hva tallgrunnlaget er basert på.
Det vil alltid være en utfordring å forebygge vold og trusler. Å ha en arbeidsdag med forutsigbare
rammer og rutiner kan ivareta tryggheten på en god måte for tilsatte og innsatte i
kriminalomsorgen
Straffegjennomføring med elektronisk kontroll: Evalueringsrapport 1; Hvem gjennomfører straff med elektronisk kontroll?
Get PDFThe Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy (KRUS), on commission from The Norwegian
Correctional Service Directorate (KSF), has evaluated the pilot project of electronic monitoring (EM) in
Norway.
Implementing sentences with electronic monitoring in Norway
The aim of the pilot project was to try out a form of implementing sentences that gave flexibility and prevented
waiting lists for the serving of sentences. This was supposed to lead to increased quality in the serving of
sentences and to lead to lower recidivism.
Increased flexibility in the serving of sentences points to both the correctional service's need of renewal and
adaptation in relation to local partners in the public services. At the same time, increased flexibility will
provide increased opportunities for accommodating an individual in his or her serving of a sentence. Already in
the 1980s there was increasing attention being paid to the need for increased differentiation in the
implementation of sentences (Hammerlin, 2008). In 1988, the Panel of Prison Law Work3 suggested in a public
exposition (NOU 1988:37) that one should establish the implementation of sentences outside the penal
institution as an independent form of implementation in which convicts live outside the penal institution but
under the supervision of the correctional service. A central element in the implementation of sentences was to
be the implementation plan that was to be worked out for the period to be served (Whitepaper no. 27 (1997–
1998), ch. 4).
As the aim of the electronic monitoring project was presented, it contained several references that contributed
to the realization of it:
a. The aim of preventing waiting lists points directly to the current situation before the project was started. On
the 28th of April 2006, there were 2,737 convicts waiting in line to serve their prison sentences. In addition,
there was almost the same amount of people waiting to be imprisoned for not paying fines. The new
government had as one of its main aims to wind up the waiting line for serving sentences by 2009 (The
Soria Moria declaration 2005–2009). Here, the implementation of sentences by means of electronic
monitoring was one of several measures to increase the capacity in that period.
b. Serving sentences by means of electronic monitoring is to increase the quality of the serving of the
sentence. Quality must be understood as an essential characteristic of this form of serving a sentence, when
compared to serving it in prison. Quality may both be experienced individually with regards to the
individual's expectations, and as a measure according to a standard. To be offered an alternative to serving
in prison might in itself be a quality, and partaking in the planning of one's serving period and carrying out
the plan will also increase the possibility of experiencing that one's expectations of the punishment is met.
Seen in a broader perspective, expectations of retribution are things that also belong to the public in general
and other concerned parties. The contradiction between the need for a predictable penal reaction and the
aim that a punishment should not be more straining than necessary is resolved through accommodating and
tailoring the serving of a sentence according to the individual's needs and situation.4
3 Norwegian: Fengselslovutvalget.
4 Fundamental viewpoints on the content of the deprivation of liberty are discussed in NOU 1988:37, ch. 3.
11
c. The last partial aim is lower recidivism as an effect of electronic monitoring being a form of serving a
sentence. Several studies show that it is difficult to document measurable changes in the rate of recidivism
in general, but certain groups do seem to have lower recidivism. An evaluation of convicts serving part of
their sentences with electronic monitoring in Sweden (a back door EM scheme) shows positive findings
compared with those who finish sentences of the same length in prison. The study included 260 back door
servers who were compared with a control group. It was especially people who were older and had
previous convictions who had a lower recidivism than one should expect after the implementation of
electronic monitoring (Marklund & Holmberg, 2009). Young convicts in Denmark have had lower
recidivism than expected following the implementation of electronic monitoring. A recent effect study
shows a lower recidivism for young adults under the age of 25 who served their sentences with electronic
monitoring, compared with those serving in prison (Jørgensen, 2011).
Previous studies have concluded that it is not electronic monitoring in itself that influences the rate of
recidivism, but the selection of convicts that are granted EM. The very same studies have however pointed out
that differences in the rate of recidivism depend on the content of the serving period with EM (Bonta, Wallace-
Capretta & Rooney, 2000).
The goal of the test period was to establish a capacity that equalled 130 places in prison. At the start of the
project, each of the six pilot units was given 20 sets of fetters (electronically tagged). From 2010, the number of
fetters was expanded to 30 in Oslo and Rogaland, in order to avoid a queue in the implementation. At the most,
100 convicts have been tagged at the same time during the project period.5 On average, 70.2 convicts were
tagged at the same time during the project period.
This evaluation is in itself a result of a focus on quality and user satisfaction. In the letter from the Norwegian
Correctional Service Directorate (KSF, 15.5.2008) to the Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy
commissioning the evaluation, it was stated that the evaluation would be a central part of the quality assurance
of the implementation of sentences by means of electronic monitoring in the test period, in that the evaluation
could contribute to support good practice and that the results of the evaluation would be used to correct the
project's direction if necessary. At the same time, the evaluation would be an important contribution to the
assessment of whether to run and expand the EM scheme further after the test period is completed. The
commissioning letter also stated that the process of evaluation should have two main perspectives:
a. The user's perspective is to focus on the aspect of content, and especially on the convict's and his or
her next of kin's experiences of this form of serving a sentence.
b. The organizational perspective is to focus on establishing, running and governing the pilot units or a
selection of these. The purpose is to assure quality in establishing the arrangement through identifying
experiences and practices in the pilot units.
Due to other tasks, the work on this report was postponed for a year. Consequently this report will influence the
furthering of the project to a lesser degree than it would have otherwise. But an advantage is that the report
contains data from the whole project period, as well as access to numbers concerning recidivism 3 years after
the release of convicts who served their sentences in 2008. Previous partial reports on the organizational
perspective have to a greater degree influenced the development of the project and the opinion of others
regarding the project. There are, however, other criteria of success linked to the establishment of a new project
and the implementation of a new form of implementing sentences.
5 98 convicts were tagged at the same time according to the report for Friday of week 16 in 2010. 81 were on a front
door scheme and 17 were on a back door scheme.
12
As a project, serving a sentence by means of electronic monitoring represents a totally new way of working in
the correctional service: new structures, new systems and new ways of collaboration between units in the
correctional service and between the correctional service and collaborative partners. It is also regarded as a
success that many in the target group have applied to serve their sentences with a fetter, and that almost all who
have been tagged have completed the sentence with EM. This is a first indication that almost everyone
perceives this form of serving as positive, and that almost all who start their sentence in this manner are able to
complete it with electronic monitoring.
One of the aims of the project was to increase the quality of the implementation of sentences. This aim may be
seen in relation to the group who serve their sentences with EM in particular, or as encompassing the
implementation of sentences in general. This report interprets the aim of increased quality as concerning all
who serve sentences. This evaluation has therefore looked into what is happening in prisons and with other
forms of serving sentences following the implementation of EM. In this report's final chapter, findings from
prison and from EM are compared. A future study of recidivism should thus also include those in the target
group who serve their sentence in prison and should look at the indirect consequences of EM on other forms of
implementing a sentence in society.
The next evaluation report on the pilot project of implementing sentences by means of electronic monitoring
will concern the content. The report will be published in the autumn of 2012.
Evaluation of the pilot project with EM in the period 2008-2010
The evaluation consists of two main reports taking the perspective of the user on the implementation of
sentences by means of electronic monitoring. This first report concerns the development and the make-up of
the target group, who applied and who were granted and not granted electronic monitoring. The other report
will investigate the content of the measures that the participants received.
The evaluating work has followed the project throughout the test period and has produced five partial reports
that have been a part of the development of the project. The reports have focused on organization, resources,
competence, technology and recommendations respectively. These reports have not been published, but may be
provided on request. Abstracts of the partial reports are attached this report.
The pilot project has incorporated six test counties, one in each of the regions of the correctional service. The
pilot units have been placed at the probation offices in the test counties. The probation office of Vestfold has
been responsible for the night shift for all the units, the other units being closed at night. The Correctional
Services IT Centre has been responsible for providing technical solutions, running the technical operation and
for the shared EM control centre which runs continuously.
The project started up in 2008 and the project period was to last for two years from the start date. Officially the
project started on the 1st of September 2008. The pilot units started on different dates:
• Vestfold EM (Southern region): 1st of September 2008
• Oslo EM (Eastern region): 22nd of September 2008
• Hedmark EM (Northeastern region) 6th of October 2008
• Rogaland EM (Southwestern region) 20th of October 2008
• Troms EM (Northern region) 3rd of November 2008
• Sogn og Fjordane EM (Western region) 17th of November 2008
13
The project period was prolonged to the 31st of December 2012 for practical reasons. From the 1st of January
2011, the project period was furthered as a project in a more permanent form. Funds for the project were
provided through the regions and not as direct project funds. Expansions to new counties in regions that had
pilot units were planned and carried out: Hordaland in the Western region and Agder in the Southwestern
region. In addition, the county of Akershus (in the Northeastern region) has established a collaboration with
Oslo EM (in the Eastern region) for the purpose of establishing EM in Akershus. From the 1st of January 2012,
the decision-making authority regarding EM was moved from the regions to the probation offices.
1,679 people served their sentences with electronic monitoring during the pilot project, a period that lasted for
two years from when it started up in 2008. 1,520 of these were on an EM front door scheme, meaning that the
whole time the sentence was served with a fetter. 159 were on an EM back door scheme, in which the final part
of a sentence is served mainly in prison.
This report addresses employees working in prisons who can motivate and recommend serving with EM to
inmates, decision-makers at a regional level and at the single probation office which is in the position to grant
applications for EM as well as convicts/inmates who are in the position to apply for EM. It also addresses
convicts' next of kin and/or cohabitants and other parties that might be affected.
The report is divided into three main parts. The first part describes the framework, aims and prerequisites for
the pilot project: what is serving of a sentence with EM seen from the user's perspective? Part two reviews
characteristics of the users who served with EM. The last part of the report presents findings from three user
surveys involving both convicts serving with EM and in prison.
This evaluation report
This reports is an evaluation of the pilot project of implementing sentences by means of electronic control
(EM) from when it started up in 2008 until 2010. The target group include almost 4,000 convicted people who
were to serve their sentences in prison for less than four months. 80 per cent of them applied for (3,098
applications) and almost 1,700 convicts served their sentences with EM in this period. 79 were transferred to
prison before the serving of the sentence with EM was completed.
Implementation of sentences by means of electronic monitoring is really two projects:
The ones serving their whole sentence with EM – 'front door servers' – often have a short sentence,
approximately 30 days, and are convicted for driving while intoxicated, speeding or for economic crimes
(fraud, embezzlement, etc.). Most of them are men (12 per cent women), in the mid-life, 30-50 years of age;
there are also a few youngsters. Two out of five live together with a spouse or cohabitant and children. Fewer
than 1 out of 10 state that they have had contact with public services during their time of serving. Factors that
motivated application for EM were to avoid absence from work and to not lose contact with family. 2 out of 10
had previous convictions. 1 out of 10 have been convicted anew 3 years after they completed serving a
sentence with EM.
The other group that serve sentences with EM is the group of so-called 'back door servers'. This group
comprises 159 of the 1,679 that served with EM during the test period. 10 of the 159 were transferred back to
prison before completing the sentence with EM. A back door server usually comes from a low security prison
(open prison). 1 of 5 back door servers are sentenced to less than 4 months imprisonment and could thus have
served their whole sentence as front door servers. 40 per cent of back door servers are convicted for violence,
14
which may be the reason why many of them have not applied or have not been granted EM front door. 25 per
cent of those with short sentences are convicted for economic crimes (fraud, embezzlement, etc.) and 15 per
cent are convicted for road traffic offences (driving while intoxicated, or speeding).
The medium-to-long-term sentences, from 4 to 6 months, are often convictions for economic crimes, drugrelated
crimes or crimes of violence (35, 24 and 20 per cent, respectively). Convicts with long sentences
comprise 25 per cent of all back door servers. The prevalent form of crime in this group is also economic crime
and drug-related crime (35 and 37 per cent respectively). The back door servers are male (12 per cent female)
and a bit older than the front door servers.
The picture shows that it is the ones with short sentences, both amongst back door and front door servers, who
apply for serving with EM. The applicants are relatively resourceful people who more often have a job and a
family than the ones who do not apply. Almost all of them experience that they have been sufficiently attended
to in the EM scheme with regards to information, availability, discreetness and conversation. Many have to
change or adapt their everyday lives in order to fit into an EM scheme. The fixed entrance and exit times are
the greatest challenge. Others experience the obligatory attendance at the probation office as a strain, a cause
for this being a long or inconvenient way to get there. Many experience EM as demanding, but less demanding
than for instance prison. It seems that those things that are experienced as demanding are the practical
consequences of the EM scheme. When asked about the pros and cons of EM, positive statements often
concern emotions, whilst negative statements most often concern very practical and concrete matters.
Comparing the user surveys from EM and prison, we get two different pictures of serving an unconditional
sentence. Inmates serving time in three open prisons (low security prisons) have participated in a survey like
the ones serving with EM. The inmates are a bit older, the average age being 37. 2 out of 5 are married or have
a cohabitant. Only 1 out of 4 lives together with children. Most of them were convicted for driving while
intoxicated, speeding, violence and crimes in the 'other' category. Some also had previous convictions. Almost
twice as many in prison than in the EM scheme were in contact with public services during the sentence,
especially contact with the social security service (9.5 per cent) and the social welfare service (8.8 per cent),
and/or in treatment in the mental health service or for alcohol or drug problems. More people serving in prison
have attended courses or school and use the library and healthcare service in prison than people serving with
EM. In the EM group, more have had contact with their designated contact person than the people serving in
prison have had with their contact officer.
Convicts serving sentences in prison were less satisfied than convicts serving with EM with the co-operation
with the staff during the time of their serving and how they experienced being seen by the employees in
prison/EM. More of those serving with EM have had a future plan or individual plan for the serving time and
the time that follows immediately after the sentence is done. It is therefore no surprise that twice as many
serving with EM are happy that the serving of the sentence has changed their situation. The large majority of
both convicts serving in prison and with EM still believe in a life without crime in the coming five years.
Chapter 2 reviews the status quo at the termination of the project period, both with regards to the front door and
the back door schemes. The purpose of EM was also that it would contribute to reducing the waiting list for
serving sentences and to prevent new queues. 2009 saw a reduction in short, unconditional sentences,
especially for road traffic offences (a 6 per cent reduction). This caused a larger decrease in this offence
category than the number that served their sentences for such offences in the EM scheme. This also made it
harder to recruit enough convicts in several of the test counties.
15
One has not managed to establish as many implementations of sentences with EM as planned. It was not really
possible with the kind of organization the project had: each EM unit had the same capacity and number of
fetters at their disposal. Only two of the units ran on maximum capacity, Oslo and Rogaland. Relative to the
size of the target group, it is the county of Sogn og Fjordane that has had the largest number of applicants, 71
applications from the 72 letters of information that were sent out.
The low number of convicts throughout the year reveals another challenge for the EM scheme: the arrangement
depends on a certain number of convicts in the scheme if it is to achieve the kind flexibility that is desired. The
flexibility of being able to tag a new offender for a cost that is comparable to prison is not achieved before the
number of convicts in the EM scheme surmounts 20–25. Herein lies a dilemma with regards to the model and
target group that has been chosen for EM in Norway.
A preliminary measuring of recidivism amongst the 99 convicts that served sentences with EM in 2008 has
been conducted. The measuring was carried out on the 3rd of November 2011, and showed that 6 of them had
been transferred to prison before completing their sentence in the EM scheme. The average length of sentences
of imprisonment was 30 days; 4 of the convicts that completed serving with EM in 2009 did that as a part of a
longer sentence served in prison (back door servers).
o The average age was 36, the youngest being 17 and the eldest being 72 years of age. 13 of the
convicted people were women.
o 26 of the 99 convicts had also been convicted previously in the last 10 years, 9 of them for drug-related
crimes, 6 for driving while intoxicated.
o 10 of the 99 convicts have been subjected to new convictions registered in the correctional service's
professional system at the time of measuring. Of these, 4 had been convicted in 2009, 5 in 2010 and 1
in 2011. 3 of the convictions were for economic crimes (fraud or embezzlement), two for drug-related
crimes and two for driving while intoxicated.
We also conducted a measuring of 401 convicts in total for the first half of 2009: this showed a rate of
recidivism (new unconditional sentences) of 9 per cent at the time the measuring was conducted. This result
supports the findings from the measuring in 2008.