The Article is written by Parmeet Singh from Amity Law School, Delhi. The Tokyo Rules are the rules set by the United Nations and officially it is known as the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures. It is the result of global discussion and exchange. The Tokyo Rules were made for the prevention of crime and the treatment of wrongdoers in Tokyo, and it was initiated by the Asia and far east Institute.

Introduction

The draft of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures are Intended to promote community involvement in the management of criminal justice for the prevention of crimes in the society and to treat the wrongdoers and this initiative was developed by the Asia and far east Institute. The committee was made with the intention to treat the offenders and to let them know about their sense of responsibility towards the society, with close cooperation with experts from various parts of the world, who are most effective in preventing crime and improving treatment to the wrongdoers. 

The Tokyo Rules were adopted by the first United Nations Conference for the betterment of the prisoners, and the conference for the Tokyo Rules was held at Geneva from 22 August to 3 September 1955 and was approved entirely by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 663 C (XXIV) of 6 November 1957. Various organisations like intergovernmental or non-governmental had also contributed their level best to the final level of the draft United Nations standard minimum rules for non-custodial measures, in particular, the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation. 

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At the time of Implementing the draft of the Tokyo Rules, this has been decided by all the member states that every member state of the conference of the Tokyo rules shall endeavour to ensure a proper balance between the rights of offenders, the rights of victims and the concern of society of public safety and the crime prevention. Every state who all are the members of the convention shall have to develop non-custodial measures in their legal systems as well for the purpose of providing the various options, such as reducing the use of imprisonment and to defending criminal justice policies, needs of social justice and the rehabilitation needs of the offenders. When the eighth conference took place, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for non-custodial measures, in its resolution 45/110 of 14th December 1990 and approved the recommendations of the committee that the rules be known as the Tokyo Rules. 

The General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to bring up some necessary actions to prepare a commentary to the Tokyo Rules so that it would be submitted to the committee at the time of twelfth conference for approval and further paying exception observation to the legal safeguards, the implementation of rules and the development of similar guidelines at the regional level. The Tokyo Rules is an important convention and was made for the purpose of representing some Important steps that have been taken for increasing the effectiveness of society’s response to crime. One of the major goals of the Tokyo Rules is to accent the importance of non-custodial sanctions and measures them for dealing with offenders. In Tokyo Rules, the term “non-custodial measure” refers to the decision which is made by the competent authority as a whole, which requires a person who is suspect/accused/sentenced of an offence to submit to certain obligations that do no cover imprisonment, at any stage of the administration of criminal justice. 

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Legal safeguards of the Tokyo Rules 

  • The Introduction, definition and application of non-custodial measures shall be exclusively based on law. It is the responsibility of the law to describe which authorities would be responsible for the implementation of non-custodial measures and the law should also provide the basis of their work.
  • The selection of the non-custodial measures shall take place within a clear framework and criteria should be set up in respect of what kind of offence he has done, nature and personality of the offender, background of the offender, the purpose behind sentencing such an offence and the need to give attention to the rights of the victim. 
  • Discretion by the judicial and other competent authority shall be exercised in accordance with lawful principles.
  • Non-custodial measures relate to the persons who all are accused but not convicted yet, particular safeguards must be provided to them and the consent of accused and suspected persons are essential before the imposition of any such measures. Rather than imposing measures on the offenders, we should give them all the rights and deal with it in a formal proceeding. 
  • Decisions on the imposition of non-custodial measures shall be subject to review by a judicial or other competent independent authority, upon application by the offender. It, therefore, is important in protecting the lawful rights and human rights of the offenders against arbitrary decision-making. He must be informed of the rights secured to him and must be given to him.
  • The offender shall be allowed to make requests and complaints to the judicial or other competent authority if his individual rights are affected by any individual, in the implementation of non-custodial measures. The offenders shall also be given their rights as they are also a human being. 
  • States should establish machinery who will consider the offenders whose basic human rights have been abused to seek redress. Such machinery should work to make the offenders aware of their basic human rights and relevant information should also be given to them for the redress of grievances.
  • Even the offenders have the right to security and none authority could infringe their right which is secured to them. Non-custodial measures shall not allow medical or psychological experiments on offenders, which means that no experiments would be done on the body of offenders which would put the physical health and psychological health of the offenders at risk. 
  • Non-custodial measures involve dignity as well and such dignity shall be protected to the offenders at all times.
  • The offender’s rights shall not be restricted in any way in the implementation of non-custodial measures, it was authorized by the competent authority that rendered the original decision that no rights shall be restricted to the offenders.
  • Non-custodial measures involve the right to privacy as well and it is the special importance given to the offenders that the right to privacy of offenders and his family members shall be respected by the competent authority. 
  • The offender’s personal data shall not be shared with any person and shall be kept strictly confidential to the third parties. Only the people who are directly concerned with the offender’s case and other duly authorized persons shall have access to such records.

Scope 

The United Nations standard minimum rules provide basic principles to encourage the use of non-custodial measures and to protect some minimum safeguards for the persons subject to imprisonment. Minimum safeguards shall be provided to all the offenders no matter whether they are suspected, accused or sentenced. The non-custodial measures emphasize that rules shall be applied to all the people without any kind of discrimination on any individual on the basis of race, religion, caste, creed, language, colour, sex, age, nation or social origin, property, political or other opinions, birth or another status. The authorities shall have to put forward some possible steps in order to eliminate discrimination and ensure equal access to non-custodial measures and equal treatment. 

The main aim behind introducing the Tokyo Rules was for the protection of the offenders and to avoid unnecessary use of imprisonment. The development of non-custodial measures should be encouraged by every country and most of the countries have already developed the concept of non-custodial measures such as community work, victim-offender reconciliation, compensation orders and probation of assistance. Non-custodial measures should be used in accordance with the principle of minimum intervention. The use of non-custodial measures should be in such a way towards restricting and eliminating the use of criminal law and the number of the person affected by it as the social environment changes and respect for individual rights and freedoms as set out in International Instruments.

Advantages

Personal hygiene 

Prisoners shall have to clean their prison’s by their own and keep it clean and hygienic. They shall be provided with enough water and with proper toilet articles and with sanitary facilities, these things are necessary for the health and cleanliness. Particular attention needs to be paid to the needs of women prisoners, such as sanitary towels that need to be provided without any charge and regular supply of water for their personal care.

Clothing and bedding

Every prisoner shall be provided with proper clothing according to the climate and it is their responsibility to keep them in good health. Clothing shall be properly clean and shall be washed accordingly for the maintenance of hygiene. Whenever a prisoner is taken outside for an authorized purpose, he shall be allowed to wear his own clothes instead of the clothes provided to him by the jail authorities.

Food

Every prisoner shall be provided with the good food full of nutrition for good health and strength, of wholesome quality and the food shall properly be cooked and served by the administration. Clean water which is suitable for drinking shall be available to every prisoner at every time.

Exercise and sport

Proper equipment shall be provided to the prisoners to exercise and do outdoor activities in the premises of the prison only and shall allow them to play sports and doing exercise only if the weather permits. 

Medical services

There shall be at least one medical officer available at every institution who should have some knowledge of psychiatry. Every medical service shall be provided to the prisoner as well and special treatment shall also be provided to the prisoner’s who are in a state of mental abnormality. The services of a dental officer shall also be provided to prisoners.

Contact with the outside world

Prisoners shall be allowed to contact their family members outside and their reputable friends at regular intervals but that shall be done under the necessary supervision.

Books

Every institution shall have a library and every prisoner shall be allowed to use the books of the library and there shall be adequate stock with recreational and instructional books and prisoners shall be allowed to make full use of it.

Religion

Every prisoner shall be allowed to follow their religion and if most of the prisoners are of the same religion then a representative of such religion shall also be appointed for them. 

Notification of death, illness, transfer and etc.

Upon the death, or serious illness, or any kind of serious injury, or his removal from the prison for any medical treatment, the authorities shall have to inform the family members of the prisoner about the situation. 

Inspection

There shall be a proper inspection to be done by the inspector to make sure that the prisoners are acquiring the services or not which have been appointed by the competent authority.

Disadvantages

Interrogation

Suspects after being apprehended are usually placed in police detention for 23 days and during the time they have to go through the lengthy interrogation sessions by the police for obtaining the confessions of the persons. Police threat the people at the time of interrogation. 

Small-cells 

Most of the cells are extremely small and large numbers of prisoners live in single-cell only and it is really uncomfortable to settle up there.

Relationship breakdown 

Most of the time the relationships of the prisoner’s breakdown due to his imprisonment.

Family reputation

Whenever the imprisonment has been sentenced to the offender the family of the offender also suffers a lot through the shame and even the society doesn’t allow them to live freely. 

Disownment by society 

If a person went to prison it makes it difficult to get a job on release which can lead the offender back into crime.

Conclusion

The Tokyo Rules are officially called as the United Nations Standards Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures and this convention was the result of global discussion and exchange of experiences and the Convention of Tokyo Rules was initiated by the Asia and Far East Institute. The purpose of the Tokyo Rules was to prevent the crime and treat the offenders in Tokyo and make an authority to secure the rights and freedoms of the offenders so that they would also be treated like a human being and several rights which have been secured to them shall be provided to them. The Tokyo Rules represented an important step in increasing the effectiveness of society’s response to crime. Non-custodial measures play an important part in criminal justice in many different cultures and legal systems. 

References

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