Concluding Remarks: Examination and Suggestions from a Multidisciplinary Perspective

Abstract

This chapter provides a general overview of the four main sections and the fifteen chapters of the book, and explains the main points elaborated by the authors through their articles. It ends by giving some recommendations to address the structural problems behind bars.

Contributors with a background in international human rights law offered insights into the legal and human rights aspects of the topic, while criminologists provided insights into society’s reaction to crime and detainees and the real-world experience of the criminal justice system. The studies of public health, politics, policy-making and implementation complemented these perspectives and provided a richer contextual understanding of how non-legal aspects and actors work on the ground. Among others, it is suggested that incarceration for any purpose should be the very last resort, an exception rather than the rule as currently practiced, and only if absolutely unavoidable; the right to equality and non-discrimination requires vulnerable groups deprived of liberty to be given differential or special treatment because of their particular needs or the enhanced risks or vulnerabilities that they face under custody; children should be among the first detainees to be released in order to reduce overcrowding of places of detention and to prevent the spread of Covid-19; and there is an urgent need to clarify the data, or with the lack of available data to collect new pertinent data and identify good practices that could be helpful to policy makers, physicians, and other stakeholders worldwide.