1. PROBATION SERVICE IN REPUBLIC OF CROATIA Jana Špero, Head of the Sector for Probation Ministry of Justice of the RoC

2.  The Probation Service in the Republic of Croatia is a new service  Croatian Criminal Justice System was engaged in a series of reforms within the Republic of Croatia Accession to the European Union (Croatia is a member of EU since 1 st July 2013 )  The judicial reform carried out has provided a strong support to the development of the Probation System in Republic of Croatia

3.  Croatian Probation Service was set up as an administrative organization under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia MINISTRY OF JUSTICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA Directorate for Criminal Law and Probation SECTOR FOR PROBATION

5. All the tasks within the scope of the Sector for Probation are conducted in the Central Office and 12 Probation Offices:

6. ESTABLISHMENT OF A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION  As regards juvenile offenders, the Republic of Croatia has a long history of conducting measures similar to probation measures  Regarding adult offenders, in 1999, the RoC started implementing protective supervision and community work (a special law was adopted)- the system was established under the Prison system directorate by engaging “commissioners”  The increase of “alternative sanctions and measures”- as a way of reducing the costs of the criminal justice system – first Law on Probation adopted in 2009.

7. Pre-trialCriminal trial Enforcement of “alternative sanctions” Enforcement of sanction Supervision of fulfilling obligations arising from the Decisions issued by the State Attorney (when deciding on criminal proceedings in accordance with the principle of opportunity) Pre-sentence reports to the Court Protective supervision ordered with: -Suspended sentence -Community work Protective supervision ordered with: -conditional release -upon the end of the prison sentence Reports to the Prosecutor (State Attorney) Community service: -acquiring consent for replacing a prison sentence with community work - organization of the community work -supervision of the community work Reports for prisons or penitentiaries Reports required for deciding on the measures of supervision and protection during pre- trial (CW:1d=2h) Reports for courts when deciding on the termination of sentence and conditional release

8. 3059 active cases ( September 2014.) CONDITIONAL RELEASE 742 COMMUNITY WORK 2008 SUSPENDED SENTENCE WITH SUPERVISION 206

9. Probation Service was in 2014 engaged in flood damage recovery

10.  flooding in the Eastern part of Croatia in 2014  Sava River reached record highs, rupturing river embankments, several thousand residents needed to be evacuated from the flooded areas  the Probation Service saw the chance for offenders on probation to provide the best possible “community service”

11.  all Probation Offices were ordered to urgently provide reports on the number of offenders who were sentenced to community service and who meet the criteria to be employed in the recovery of the flooded areas

12. The Probation Service had close cooperation with:  the National Protection and Rescue Directorate,  local authorities,  Red Cross,  Caritas,  Military, police forces, firefighters  other authorities involved in the recovery.

13. During this difficult period, the Probation Service seized the opportunity for its contribution in two different ways:  by identifying and sending as many probationers as possible to the flooded areas to provide immediate assistance in recovering damages  by instructing all available probationers to report to those legal entities which collected humanitarian aid

14. Within 24 hours a group of 30 probationers was put together They were situated at the Volunteer Camp in the affected area. They provided much needed assistance by:  clearing roadways, yards  removing decayed carcasses  pumping the water out of residences, cellars  and other similar necessary work Besides help on-site, they also unloaded and sorted out humanitarian aid and maintained the camp grounds

15.  Due to the specificity of the tasks (extremely challenging conditions and complex group dynamics) the probation officers conducted daily motivational conversations with the probationers in the field with the aim to provide for the best continuing performance.

16.  physicians who are involved in the Probation Service were also engaged and tasked with visiting and giving their support to the evacuated population

17.  The probation officers regularly participated in the work of the local crisis staff  Offenders on probation, continuously performed their work from 30 May until the closing of the Volunteer Camp on 23 June, completing over 11000 hours of community service

19. Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia Directorate for Criminal law and Probation Sector for Probation Ulica grada Vukovara 49 10 000 Zagreb CROATIA tel: +385 1 37 14 234 fax: +385 1 37 14 299 e-mail: probacija@pravosudje.hr e-mail: jana.spero@pravosudje.hr