Interview with Nikolay Aroustamyan, Advisor to the Minister of
Justice of Armenia.

Non-governmental organizations and, recently, also the ministry,
often outline the necessity of introduction of the probation service. When,
eventually, the probation service will be introduced in Armenia?

According to the 2012-2016 Plan of Action of Legal and Judicial Reforms,
approved by the President, it is envisaged to draft relevant legal acts required
for setting up the probation service. This service will be a separate agency, independent
of penitentiary service.

At this moment I can say that we intend to set up the service in
January 2014. To achieve this, some activities are being carried out, in
particular, a number of legal acts were drafted and I hope that, finally, they
will be put in official circulation in the nearest future, in June.

As for more practical issues, including the structure of probation
service, assessment of staff needed, criteria for staff selection, this type of
work has been done. I believe that we will need to do selection and training of
the staff during the second half of the year.

What advantages does the probation system have and how Armenia
will benefit? 

There are many advantages. In terms of implementation of probation
activities, it will function at the different stages: pre-trial, trial, while serving
sentence and post-penitentiary stages.

The probation service at the pre-trial stage means assistance to
decision makers, assistance to judges during their decision making on applying
pre-trial detention as a measure of constraint. At the stage of trial it means assistance
in resorting to punishment, the type and gravity of punishment, particularly
regarding social evaluation of the subject of a crime. During the stage of
serving the sentence, reports will be drafted and presented to prepare the
process of discharging the punishment, conditional early release or softening
the remaining part of the sentence term. And the post-penitentiary stage will
require cooperation with social institutions. 

The prevention measures to be used at the pre-trial stage are
especially important, such as home arrest and oversight, which are defined in
the new Criminal Procedure Code.

The other important function that I would like to mention is using
electronic monitoring in case of conditional punishment and early conditional
release.

If we are to summarize, we can say that with this jurisdiction we
can have more efficient justice system and more effective execution of
punishment, aimed at returning a person back to the society in a proper manner. 

What kind of obstacles are there in the process of introduction of
the probation service or could come up, considering that it is a completely new
system?

This system is not completely new, as we have some elements
already in place both  in terms of
legislation and also in practice, but still there are many novelties to be
introduced.

As for the obstacles, I believe that we will have only financial
obstacles, a lack of financial means. Why? Because everything abovementioned,
including electronic monitoring or providing adequate office conditions,
requires funding. It is a challenge to ensure all these.

In theory, I think that we do not have any other issues but this,
except for that the drafts shall be discussed at the National Assembly which in
its turn may create or not some issues out of our control.

You mentioned that problems with funding may come up. Where will you
seek funding: out of the state budget or any other sources?

The basis definitely is the budget, but at this moment I cannot
say that we have any other source than the state budget which is not prohibited
by the law. We have different projects for cooperation, which relate to
exchange of experience, professional training. In this term, we cooperate with
the Americans. But we do not have any financial contribution for setting up the
system at the moment. It is possible that there will be some in the future, but
nothing is clear at this moment.

In which structure the probation system will function?

The probation service will function within the structure of the
Ministry of Justice as a special service. The organizational status has a secondary
meaning and it has to be discussed yet.

How the probation service will cooperate with the division of
implementation of alternative punishment?

The division of alternative punishment which is a part of the Penitentiary
Department will be dissolved with the launch of probation service. This is how
it is currently seen.

Will be any cooperation with non-governmental structures, NGOs?
There are organizations that have rehabilitation centers and significant
experience and resources. 

We are not simply saying that there can be cooperation but we are
going to seek and welcome cooperation, providing for it through legislative
acts, especially seeking cooperation in certain areas and methods.

I am not sure whether you are informed or not that PH International
organization's centers for juveniles’ rehabilitation are at the risk of closure
due to financial problems, and the state has not committed to fund them. Is it
possible that these centers' resources turn to be a basis for probation
services?

Certainly there will be cooperation with them, but we cannot build
things on their basis, as this belongs to the public sector.

How are you going to solve the issue of specialists? Will the
psychologists and social workers who work at the penitentiary institutions at
the moment be engaged in the probation service?

If they would like to join this service, then the answer is yes.
However, unfortunately, we do not have enough psychologists and social workers
at the division of implementation of alternative punishment, we have almost no
specialists.

One of our challenges is lack of specialists, we have to conduct
selection and recruitment of staff in the second half of the year. We have an
issue both with the number of staff and their background and capacity. We have
different specialists with higher education at this division, particularly,
lawyers, but not everybody will wish or have an opportunity to transfer to the
probation service. Thus, we have an issue of selection and recruitment of the
staff.

A few models of probation system have been discussed. Which model
has been selected and why?

First, I should say that we have studied various European systems,
and there is no all-in-one model, the models are pretty mixed. We certainly
will cooperate with several European countries and the US. We also have
developed a strategy on the concept of probation service; the relevant legislation
have been drafted based on it.  

Interview by Mariam Sargsyan