Probation in Kazakhstan is not merely an alternative to prison, but a comprehensive system aimed at reforming individuals and reintegrating them into society as law-abiding citizens.

This institution is a genuine confirmation of the aspiration to make criminal policy more humane without sacrificing public safety, seeking to encourage law-abiding behavior rather than simply punish.

Modern technologies make this control remote, more targeted, and stricter. Moreover, probation is a last chance: fail to comply with its requirements – and you go to prison.

For systematic violations of probation conditions – committing petty hooliganism during this period, drinking alcohol, or attempting to remove an electronic bracelet – according to open sources, in just eight months of 2025, courts sent 2,354 people behind bars.

Those serving sentences in the form of restriction of freedom must remain under the state's supervision. The Astana Prosecutor's Office was compelled to remind of this as well. The sentence must be fully executed, and the opportunity to live without isolation depends on the convicted person themselves. Probation neither softens nor cancels punishment – this was stated during a briefing by B. Abdikadyr, prosecutor of the group for supervision over the execution of sentences.

But cases of probation control violations are not uncommon. One notable example was convicted individual M., who was registered with the probation service of the Karasai district. She had previously received a court sentence of three years and two months of restriction of freedom with probation control. However, within less than a month, the woman committed six administrative offenses, including petty hooliganism, disturbing the peace, appearing in public places while intoxicated, and damaging green spaces in the city. Therefore, for this "bouquet" of systematic violations, she was sent to places of deprivation of liberty.

Tens of thousands of people are on probation registration across the country. According to data from mid-2025, almost 28,000 Kazakhstanis not serving sentences in prison were under supervision. In recent years, conditions have been tightened: convicted persons must register four times a month (previously twice), and officers may check them at their place of residence up to twice a week.

Electronic bracelets have come to the rescue: with their help, for example, in the Karaganda region, 65 violations were detected in just two months of 2026. In Ust-Kamenogorsk, a man tried to burn his bracelet, but the system continued to track his movements, which led to the replacement of his sentence with a real prison term.

To monitor probation registrants, "smart cameras" are deployed in public places as part of the "Digital Supervision" project. They made it possible to detect 209 violations committed by 92 registrants in just three months. These included leaving home at night, visiting prohibited places, and traveling beyond the administrative-territorial unit of residence.

Warnings about the replacement of punishment were issued to the guilty parties, and two of them have already been sent to colonies.

If one looks at the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Probation," the purpose of this measure is not only the correction of suspects' behavior and the resocialization of convicted persons, but also the social adaptation of those released from places of deprivation of liberty. And this already involves not only supervision and punishment, but also the provision of social and legal assistance.

Probation service officers often help people solve problems that led them to crime in the first place. In Semey, a man who had evaded alimony for nine years, accumulating a debt of more than five million tenge, was helped not only to restore lost documents and registration, but also to find employment so that he could begin paying the debt to his son. A 31-year-old convicted resident of Shchuchinsk, thanks to the assistance of probation service inspectors, received an identity document for the first time in his life, which opened the path to official employment and changed his life plans.

Overall, the Law "On Probation" regulates the organization and functioning of probation and, most importantly, individually determines measures of control and social-legal correction of the behavior of individuals, and above all – their adaptation and rehabilitation, because they are unlikely to be welcomed with open arms upon release from prison. And the provision of social-legal assistance to persons subject to probation is vitally necessary for them first and foremost, and for society, so as not to end up with a person embittered by hopelessness, and to prevent the recurrence of new crimes.

Therefore, this is an important stage – preparation for the release of a convicted person serving a sentence. Specific duties and prohibitions are determined by the court. Probation control applies to people whom the court has sentenced to restriction of freedom. The probation service monitors the execution of the sentence, helping convicted persons legally and socially, which is aimed at their correction and the prevention of new offenses.

The main thing is that the person does not become disconnected from family and work, fulfilling the requirement to be at home at the established time, not leaving the dwelling during designated hours, for example, after 10:00 p.m.

We recall another vivid example, when the convicted son of a well-known deputy, for violating probation control upon the recommendation of the probation service, received a real replacement of punishment – instead of restriction of freedom, deprivation of liberty. The reason was a video on social media showing the convicted person having a good time at a celebration (toi), despite having an electronic tracking device. In total, he committed three violations of probation control, in addition to visiting entertainment venues and repeated physical assault, which was confirmed in court. This was recognized as a malicious violation of the order and conditions of serving the sentence.

So the leniencies that the law provides do not mean complete freedom. For example, moving without notifying the probation service and leaving the established territory, or failing to appear at the probation service within the designated timeframes. And even then, if only a few months remain until the end of the sentence, one must not relax.

But in practice, courts have to repeatedly consider hundreds of cases of replacing restriction of freedom, and quite often a decision on deprivation of liberty is rendered.

To verify that convicted persons are at home at the established time and to prevent violations, on the initiative of the capital's prosecutor's office, a mobile group was created in September 2026, which included employees of district prosecutor's offices, the probation service, police, and the akimat. It was also reported that support is provided to those in difficult life situations, with food baskets being distributed. And it is good when the relevant bodies provide social support not formally but genuinely, to give a person the opportunity to stay within the framework of the law.

Preventive conversations and warnings are conducted. For a single offense, the convicted person is usually summoned to the probation service and the consequences are explained. And only when those released from isolation feel permissiveness does the probation service petition for the replacement of punishment, and the court may replace the unserved part of the restriction of freedom with real deprivation of liberty.

If a convicted person commits a new offense or crime, liability arises separately, and this means loss of job, separation from family, and an additional criminal record in one's biography. This complicates the return to normal life.

As the facts show, many convicted persons treat probation control as a punishment in a lighter form of sentence execution, but not as an exemption from it. Therefore, the choice remains with the convicted person themselves. To stay free and preserve one's job and family, it is enough to comply with the requirements of the court and the probation service.

THE EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE:
PRIORITY – COMMUNITY SERVICE

In 2018, the results of a three-year European Union project "Improving Criminal Justice in Kazakhstan" were summarized. We will present the arguments of foreign experts explaining the growing popularity of probation, with examples of evidence of the effectiveness of community service assigned during this period, compared to imprisonment for similar offenses.

Figures and facts emphasize that community service, on average, costs many times less than imprisonment. Judicial bodies concerned about the cost of investing in probation organizations, or seeking arguments in support of such investments, can point to the economic as well as social return on investment in probation.

Data from Dutch studies show that, on average, community service costs about 12 percent of the cost of imprisonment. Moreover, the work performed by offenders adds value to society, and the offenders themselves gain the opportunity to support their families and pay taxes.

Figures from England and Wales are similar: the comparative cost of 12 months of community service is about 10 percent of the average cost of imprisonment for the same period. The authors cite the experience of a number of other countries, including those with recently introduced probation services, where a similar cost ratio of 10 to 1 can also be traced.

Funds saved by replacing unnecessary imprisonment with community service can be directed to other socially useful purposes, for example, investing in services that support community engagement and reduce the risks of future offenses.

The Dutch experience also provides compelling research data covering a five-year period, comparing those sentenced to community service and those sentenced to short-term (less than nine months) deprivation of liberty. Thus, the recidivism rate among those sentenced to community service was 46.8 percent lower than among those sentenced to imprisonment.

Experts said that since the early 2000s, the number of prisoners in the Netherlands had been growing, leading to a huge increase in the number of prison cells and, accordingly, expenditures on the penitentiary system. Thus, in 2006, the prisoner ratio (number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants) increased to 125 (20,464 prisoners). At the same time, the government was aware of the fact that the recidivism rate of former prisoners was very high – at 70%; and that non-custodial sentences have a less harmful effect on the lives of convicted persons and offer broader opportunities for influencing and assisting them.

In 2008, the Dutch government initiated a program to "optimize non-custodial sanctions." The reduction in sentence processing time and the increase in the level of compliance with special conditions and their focus on the offender were achieved through high-quality assessment of the offender's risk, needs, and strengths.

The spread of probation as an alternative measure of punishment is growing in many parts of the world. As we can see, good examples of this can be found in Europe, where new member states (Balkan and Baltic countries, countries of Central and Eastern Europe) are universally joining Western European countries in their aspiration to establish probation services, which have quite quickly played an important role in the overall national picture of sentencing.

These examples show that we too need to adopt this experience, so that probation is not merely a restriction of freedom, but brings real benefit to society and to the convicted person themselves.

Akmaral ABDULOVA