Reducing reoffending is one of the main goals of criminal justice interventions. Reducing reoffending leads to fewer victims, greater community safety, and less pressure on and lower costs for the criminal justice system.
The relevant United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice – in particular the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (The Nelson Mandela Rules), the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (The Tokyo Rules), and the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (The Bangkok Rules) – reaffirm the importance of reducing reoffending and various measures as a means to prevent recidivism and protect society.
Reducing reoffending was one of the main themes at the Fourteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, including through deliberations among Member States and a dedicated workshop on the topic. The commitment to reduce reoffending is firmly reflected in the outcome document of the Congress, the Kyoto Declaration.
In December 2021, Member States adopted General Assembly resolution 76/182 entitled “Reducing reoffending through rehabilitation and reintegration”, which encouraged Member States to develop comprehensive strategies or action plans to reduce reoffending. The resolution also requested the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) “to convene an expert group meeting to share information on promising practices to reduce reoffending, with a view to developing model strategies on reducing reoffending, which can serve as useful tools for Member States, taking into account relevant provisions in the existing standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, current developments, research, tools and the outcome of the deliberations of the Fourteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice”.
Pursuant to this request, UNODC convened a virtual expert group meeting from 6 to 8 April 2022. The meeting took place with interpretation in all official languages of the United Nations and was attended by 27 experts from all regions who participated in their individual capacity. The experts discussed key elements to consider in identifying measures to reduce reoffending and exchanged information on promising practices to reduce reoffending. A report of the expert group meeting was presented to the 31st session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) as a conference room paper.
In December 2022, the General Assembly adopted adopted resolution 77/232 entitled “Reducing reoffending through rehabilitation and reintegration”, which requested UNODC, "subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, to convene a meeting of an open-ended intergovernmental expert group, with interpretation in all official languages of the United Nations, with a view to developing model strategies on reducing reoffending that can serve as useful tools for Member States, taking into consideration relevant provisions in the existing United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, current developments, research and tools, written contributions from Member States and, without prejudice, the output of the expert group meeting held from 6 to 8 April 2022”.
The same resolution also encouraged Member States to share with UNODC, “through written contributions, information on promising practices for possible inclusion in draft model strategies on reducing reoffending, for consideration by the open-ended intergovernmental expert group”. All written contributions received as the result of an invitation from UNODC issued to Member States and other relevant stakeholders, including other United Nations bodies and entities, the UN affiliated regional institutes and centres of the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network (PNIs), intergovernmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, are accessible here.
In its resolution 78/224 entitled “Reducing reoffending through rehabilitation and reintegration”, the General Assembly strongly encouraged Member States “to actively participate in the meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group and to include in their delegations experts from a variety of disciplines.”
The initial part of the open-ended inter-governmental expert group, which was attended by representatives from 44 Member States and 12 relevant non-governmental stakeholders, took place in virtual format from 4 to 5 September 2023, with simultaneous interpretation in in the six official languages of the United Nations. All documentation related to this meeting, including the provisional agenda, the working paper prepared by the Secretariat as well as written contributions received from Member States and other relevant stakeholders after the meeting, are accessible here.
The open-ended inter-governmental expert group was reconvened in the Vienna International Center (VIC) from 25 to 28 March 2024, with the possibility of virtual participation. It was attended by 53 Member States, and 16 relevant non-governmental stakeholders, with simultaneous interpretation in the six official languages of the United Nations. All documentation related to this meeting, including the provisional agenda, the Chairs’ draft of model strategies on reducing reoffending as well as the working paper reflecting the state of the negotiations at the end of the reconvened part of the meeting, are accessible here.
The report on the meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group at its first meeting was made available to the Crime Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its 33rd session in all official languages of the United Nations (E/CN.15/2024/15).
In its resolution 79/187, the General Assembly authorized the open-ended intergovernmental expert group to continue its work within its mandate and requested UNODC, in operative paragraph 2, to “convene an additional meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group, with interpretation in all official languages of the United Nations, with a view to finalizing the development of model strategies on reducing reoffending”.
The initial part of the second meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group, which was attended by representatives from 55 Member States and 12 relevant non-governmental stakeholders, took place in the Vienna International Centre (VIC) from 27 to 31 January 2025, with simultaneous interpretation in all official languages of the United Nations. All documentation related to this meeting, including the provisional agenda, the Chair’s final draft of model strategies on reducing reoffending and the list of participants are available here.
The second meeting of the open-ended inter-governmental expert group was reconvened in the Vienna International Centre (VIC) from 1 to 4 April 2025, with simultaneous interpretation in all official languages of the United Nations, and was attended by 46 Member States, and 9 relevant non-governmental stakeholders. All documentation related to this meeting, including the provisional agenda, the Chair’s final draft of model strategies on reducing reoffending and the list of participants are available here.
After extensive and in-depth discussions, the second meeting of the intergovernmental expert group reached consensus on the text of the model strategies on reducing reoffending. It therefore agreed to recommend to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to submit the model strategies for approval by the Economic and Social Council and subsequent adoption by the General Assembly as the “United Nations Model Strategies on Reducing Reoffending”.
The expert group further recommended to the Commission to consider recommending to the General Assembly that the United Nations Model Strategies on Reducing Reoffending be known as the “Kyoto Model Strategies” in recognition of the fact that these strategies will constitute the main normative legacy of the Fourteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, held in Kyoto, Japan in 2021, and in recognition of the championing role of the Government of Japan in the development of the Model Strategies.
The report on the second meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group will be made available to the Crime Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its 34th session in all official languages of the United Nations (E/CN.15/2025/14).
Please find all documentation relating to the meetings here.
