The Criminal Sanctions Agency is responsible for the enforcement of sentences in Finland. It operates under the direction of the Ministry of Justice and implements the criminal policy defined by the Ministry.

The primary duty of the Criminal Sanctions Agency is to see that the sentences passed by the courts of law are enforced lawfully and safely in Finland. In particular, the Agency’s goal is to enhance the safety of society by decreasing sentenced offenders’ risk of reoffending.

Towards more open enforcement

The goal of the sentence term is to guide the offenders towards a life without crime. The sentence term is planned and realised so that the sentenced offenders can develop their abilities to settle into a new life after serving the sentence. When the sentenced offenders can practice the skills promoting their life control during the sentence term, they have a better change to reintegrate into society as its full members after release.

One of the aims of the reform carried out in the criminal sanctions field is to move towards a more open enforcement of sentences. In practise, this means increasing the use of open prisons and community sanctions. Along with the reform, we have developed methods, which enable the release phase to support a life without crime in the best possible way. More open sentence enforcement measures are supported by, among others, the use of supervised probationary freedom and the establishment of release units. A gradual, controlled release is one of the basic concepts of the Imprisonment Act. The safety aspect of society also supports the releasing of prisoners via open prisons and supervised probationary freedom.