ABSTRACT
Prisoner resettlement has found new interest in crime policy for different reasons. In some countries, the resettlement of offenders is legally required by the constitution, in others by statutory legislation. Jonas Weber emphasizes in his report on Switzerland the manifold regional varieties of prisoner resettlement in the different cantons. Many European countries have faced increasing prison population rates in the past few decades, and problems pertaining to prison overcrowding have promoted European debates on how to better structure and develop concepts for resettlement after release from prison. The answer to the question whether and how resettlement schemes can avoid recidivism and which methods work best is very complex and afflicted with a number of methodological challenges. One of the major problems of a structured reintegration into society after having served a prison sentence is the limited time available for sentence planning and preparing release in the case of short-term imprisonment.
