Abstract
The first part of the chapter discusses the role of rehabilitation in Nordic penal thinking over the last 50 years, and the latter part takes a closer look at rehabilitative-oriented penal practices in Finland. It describes how in the mid-1960s the rehabilitative ideal was replaced by humane neoclassicism only for that to be replaced in the 1990s by penal rehabilitation based on What Works. In a discussion about the use of imprisonment, the chapter shows how the defining feature in Finnish (and Nordic) prisons lie in a wide application of open enforcement, and how research confirms higher satisfaction in open prisons regarding programme functionality, contacts with the outside world, respect, staff relations, health services, living conditions, general well-being, safety, or fairness. It points to evaluation that reveals positive outcomes in terms social and human effects, including positive contact to work life, better self-control over substance abuse, and better preservation of family ties. The chapter also emphasizes how concern about human rights has influenced penal policy in Finland.
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Lappi-Seppälä, T. (2022). Rehabilitative Aims and Values in Finnish (and Nordic) Criminal Justice. In: Vanstone, M., Priestley, P. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Rehabilitation in Criminal Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14375-5_10
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