Criminal Sanctions Agency
20 July 2010
The year 2009 was preparation for the new organisation: the Criminal Sanctions Agency began its operation in the beginning of 2010. It consists of the former Criminal Sanctions Agency as well as the Prison Service and the Probation service. Read more...
The Criminal Sanctions Agency informs on 30 December 2009
A new authority of the criminal sanctions field is introduced in Finland at the beginning of 2010 when the former Criminal Sanctions Agency and the Prison Service and the Probation Service operating under it are united into one authority, which is called the Criminal Sanctions Agency. Read more...
New authority – uniform enforcement of sanctions
When the new Criminal Sanctions Agency is introduced, there is only one authority that is responsible for the enforcement of prison sentences and community sanctions across the nation. The administrative organisations of the Prison Service and the Probation Service, which have previously been operating as independent authorities in the field, are abolished whereas the professional competence of the prison and probation services is passed on to the new organisation along with the personnel.
The goal of the organisation reform is to unify the enforcement process of sanctions, i.e. remand imprisonment, prison sentences, and community sanctions. In the Criminal Sanctions Agency, the planning of the sentence term of remand prisoners, sentenced prisoners, and community sanction clients as well as the enforcement of the sanction, i.e. the actual serving of the sentence including the release phase, form a more coherent entity than before.
Criminal Sanctions Agency – goal of operations
The operators of the Criminal Sanctions Agency have one common basic duty, which is the enforcement of criminal sanctions. Based on that duty, all the employees of the Criminal Sanctions Agency attend to the legal and safe enforcement of sanctions.
Legality also means compliance with the principle of normality. The sentenced sanction should have no more effect on the life of the sentenced offender than the restrictions caused by the punishment itself.
The aim is to plan the sentence term so that the sentenced offenders can improve their abilities to live without crime. 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 serving the sentence.