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COST Action Offender Supervision in Europe 

The work of COST Action IS1106 on Offender Supervision in Europe began on 27th March 2012 at a ‘kick-off’ meeting in Brussels and it concludes with the final conference, back in Brussels, on the 11-12th March 2016. This report reflects on the achievements over the course of four years of complex, challenging, creative and highly constructive research collaboration.

 

The main objective of the Action is to exchange, increase and deepen knowledge about offender supervision in Europe, in order to understand its development in social context, how it is constructed and experienced by those involved and its impacts and consequences.

The central rationale for the work was that offender supervision in Europe has developed rapidly in scale, distribution and intensity in recent years but that the emergence of what we termed ‘mass supervision’ (i.e. in the community) had largely escaped the attention of legal scholars and social scientists more concerned with the ‘mass incarceration’ reflected in prison growth. Argument was that this represented an important analytical lacuna for law and social science. Moreover, the neglect of supervision meant that research had not delivered the knowledge urgently required to engage with political, policy and practice communities grappling with delivering justice efficiently and effectively in fiscally straitened times, and with the challenges of communicating the meaning, legitimacy and utility of supervision to an insecure public.

Our knowledge of Interagency Coorperation

When considering the rehabilitation of persons who have committed a crime resulting in imprisonment, a critical stage of the process is when they are released to the community. This is an important moment of transition when the person needs support in several areas of his/her life. Research indicates that this transition management is crucial in the rehabilitation process. Interagency cooperation is necessary to make this process successful.
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Check out the latest news and updates on this project’s focus area.

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CEP members, Gender-based violence

Interventions Alliance’s Eden House Recognized as Outstanding

15/01/2026

CEP is delighted to share that Eden House, an Interventions Alliance residential service for women with high-risk or complex needs on probation, has been rated “Outstanding” overall by HM Inspectorate of Probation. In 2022, Eden House was honored with the CEP Public Protection Award. Our sincere congratulations to the team for this remarkable achievement.

 

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Education and Training

The Judicial Training Dashboard

14/01/2026

The European Training Platform (ETP) is a search tool for justice professionals. You can find self-learning materials on a great variety of EU law practice areas and related topics, as well as links to training providers’ homepages and course catalogues.

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Technology

Communication on DigitalJustice@2030

13/01/2026

The EU’s competitiveness will increasingly depend on the digitalisation of all sectors, which will drive investment. Digitalisation and the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) will be essential to the ability of public authorities to deliver high-quality public services, notably also in the field of justice. Europe’s Digital Decade is underway with the ambition that by 2030 the EU has all key public services available online. The ultimate aim will be to increase the efficiency of public services by making them digital by default, stimulating productivity.

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Alternatives to pre-trial detention, CEP Events

Webinar on Alternatives to Detention – CEP Webinar Series 2026

13/01/2026

CEP is pleased to invite you to the first webinar in the CEP Webinar Series 2026, taking place on Thursday, 22 January 2026, at 14:00 CET. This webinar will introduce a unique programme developed by the Meuse Probation Service, which was awarded the CEP Award 2025 in the category of Rehabilitation and Social Inclusion (The Sue Hall Award).

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Alternatives to pre-trial detention, CEP Events

CEP Webinar Series 2026

12/01/2026

In 2026 CEP launches a series of short webinars that will take place every third Thursday of January, March, May and November.

We sincerely invite all probation practitioners, social workers, managers, policy makers, researchers, students as well as colleagues from partners organisations to join and share your knowledge with us.

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Uncategorized

Help Us Improve the CEP Website

07/01/2026

At Confederation of European Probation (CEP), we want to make sure our website continues to support our mission and the work of our community in the best possible way.

We are inviting you to take part in a short survey that takes around six minutes. Your feedback will help us understand what is working well and where the website can be improved.

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