The 2000 United Nations (UN) Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders unanimously resolved that all nations should encourage restorative justice which aims at reducing crime and promoting healing of victims, offenders and communities.

United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-Custodial Measures (The Tokyo Rules) provides for development of a framework for non-custodial sentences that addresses individual needs so as to reduce re-offending.

Bangkok rules state that non-custodial measures and sanctions should take into account women’s distinctive needs to enable them meet their obligations at the same time as serving their sentence and can be far more effective at addressing the root causes of their offending.

The Directorate of Community Service through social reintegration department follows offenders to ensure effective rehabilitation and reintegration back into their communities. Social reintegration aims at preparing the offender for successful entry ensuring public safety, reducing chances of relapse and repeat offending, promoting social responsibility, promoting stable and social family relationships and enhancing public involvement in offender management and support.

The process involves screening, counselling, home visits, reconciliatory meetings, offender skilling, offering victim psychosocial support, making referrals where necessary.

Why Social Reintegration Approach?

Social reintegration is undertaken to;

1. Promote community involvement in implementation of community service.
2. Enhance awareness about community service and its benefits.
3. Involve local structures in helping offenders to acquire the attitudes and behaviours that result in functioning productively in society.
4. Increase compliance to Community Service Orders.
5. Contribute to crime prevention.
6. Reduce the rate of recidivism.
7. Promote credibility of the program and confidence of the judiciary.
8. Promote social cohesion and reconciliation between offenders and the community members through conflict and crime prevention and peace-building building initiatives.
9. Generate disaggregated data to initiate subsequent evidence based rehabilitation programs.

Capacity Building
The Directorate enhances skills and knowledge of various stakeholders to perform better in contributing to the realisation of community service objectives. The key activities carried out include; training of stakeholders, public awareness campaigns (Radio/Television talk shows, open days, community meetings/sensitisation, Line support to stakeholders and distribution of Information Education Communication materials (IEC) to ease implementation of Community Service as a community based sanction.

Training of stakeholders

These are basically district based trainings targeting members of District Community Service Committee, Placement Supervisors, Community Development Officers ,Probation and Social Welfare Officers (PSWOs), Refugee Settlement leaders, Peer support persons, Police officers, Prison officers and other local leaders with the objective of equipping them with the necessary knowledge to effectively carry out their roles in implementing Community Service Orders

Publicity programmes

The Directorate enhances its image through increasing its visibility and community service awareness by creating public awareness campaigns (Radio/Television talk shows, open days, community meetings/sensitisation, Line support to stakeholders and distribution of Information Education Communication materials (IEC).