In the Kaunas District Court – a discussion on the execution of alternative sentences to deprivation of liberty

The opening words of this meeting were given by the Director of the Lithuanian Probation Service, Romas Ostanavičius, and the Chairman of the Kaunas District Court, Arūnas Purvainis.

“We are happy to have the opportunity to share our experience and the opportunity to discuss matters that are important to all of us and to present the activities of our service, opportunities and available tools used in the implementation of court decisions regarding the imposed punishments. We hope for an active discussion and a meaningful time for everyone,” said LPT director Romas Ostanavičius.

“We all understand that in every criminal process and every case, in order to achieve a high-quality result – a court decision acceptable to both the parties to the case and the public, it is necessary to ensure clarity, transparency, and the legality of evidence collection and investigation. It is necessary to note that it depends not only on the individual ability and experience of the judge, other officials involved in the process, but also on various other external factors, such as legal regulation, quality of laws, sufficiency of funding.

For high-quality court decisions, not only effective pre-trial and judicial proceedings, but also court decision enforcement processes, in which the probation service also participates in many cases, are particularly important. Thus, the high-quality work and cooperation of all institutions is very important for a clear and reasoned court decision. The contribution of all services operating in these processes, without exception – courts, prosecutor’s office, probation service – is quite different in these processes, but it is undoubtedly important and necessary, because only in this way can an effective process be ensured,” said the chairman of the court, Arūnas Purvainis.

During the meeting, the chief specialist of the Department of Resocialization and Care of LPT Dr. Vaidas Viršilas presented the available and applied resocialization instruments in the implementation of court decisions, presented in detail the applied methodologies and the main emerging problems. Later, the head specialist of this department, Donatas Zabolevičius, told the gathering about the intensive supervision of convicts carried out by the LPT and the supervision of convicts using electronic monitoring devices and allowed them to be inspected.

Judge Gabrielė Kaktienė of the Kaišiadorių Chamber of the Kaunas District Court shared the insights of the court at the meeting. She presented to those gathered the practical aspects and problems of examining the provision of the probation service, reviewed the critical aspects, presented some specific examples and situations in which, in the judges’ opinion, the representatives of the probation service should pay more attention.

“According to statistics, a relatively large proportion of probation applications for suspension of execution are unsatisfactory. It is very important to emphasize that in each case, the court, when deciding on submissions regarding the cancellation of the suspension of the execution of the sentence or the cancellation of conditional release from the correctional institution, must analyze very carefully and in detail whether the convicted person did not fulfill the obligations assigned to him for important, objectively unjustifiable reasons, or whether his behavior was determined by subjective factors, a clear unwillingness to take responsibility for his actions and disregard the obligations and prohibitions applied to him, or whether the contrary behavior of the convicted person was determined not by his intention, but by objectively justified circumstances.

Also, the courts, when solving the mentioned questions, must in all cases assess the probationer’s social maturity, experiences, the environment influencing him and assess whether his actions are systematic, which would unequivocally reveal the probationer’s nihilistic attitudes, and at the same time, his reluctance to change his criminal behavior. Courts, when deciding on the abolition of the institute of suspension of execution and the institute of parole, always assess the fact that the abolition of the institutes in question is an extreme measure, applied only in the event that it cannot really be concluded that the behavior of the convicted person cannot be changed during the period of suspension of the execution of the sentence and this institution has become no longer effective. Only after evaluating the behavior of the convict and all the data characterizing him, the court can make a decision – to accept the provision of the probation service or not,” said judge Gabrielė Kaktienė.

At the end of the meeting, the chairman of the Kaunas district court, A. Purvainis, thanked all the participating officers, judges and prosecutors of the Probation Service for the constructive discussion and useful time spent, and expressed his joy at the smooth and benevolent inter-institutional cooperation.