Background
Reducing reoffending is one of the main goals of criminal justice interventions. Reducing reoffending leads to fewer victims, greater community safety as well as 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.
Expert Group Meeting on Reducing Reoffending (6-8 April 2022)
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 twenty-seven 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.
Open-ended intergovernmental expert group meeting
In December 2022, Member States adopted General Assembly resolution 77/232 entitled “Reducing reoffending through rehabilitation and reintegration”, which requests 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 encourages 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.
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.
