Tímarit lögfræðinga - 01.10.1989, Side 21

through informal help carried out by social agencies, private organiza-
tions or arbitrators. The target obviously is to prevent further con-
troversies. In Germany we have a good example of mediation: it is
a special reconciliation procedure which has to be followed through
in the presence of an arbitrator as a mandatory condition, before a
private penal action cán be filed, in such less serious cases as insult,
committing light bodily harm and causing damage to property. In
addition to this, compensation is provided for in various parts of
criminal law as a condition of suspended sentences. Othei-wise, com-
pensation and mediation are as yet more a programme than reality.
But scholarly work is being undertaken to investigate to what extent
positive chances embodied in the idea of an informal reconciliation
scheme as an alternative to the response by criminal procedure may
be realized.
Conclusion
The survey of criminal policy in a historical and comparative con-
text that I have had the privilege to present to you, shows how the
system of sanctions in criminal law is actually in a state of transition.
In this movement, Iceland enjoys a favourable position. The General
Criminal Law of 1940 contains many modern solutions and is open to
the introduction of new ideas for reform without having become
dominated by the treatment-euphoria which has for long blocked
realistic progress in criminal policy. Possible steps for further reform
which may be of interest to Iceland can be enumerated as: an extension
of the probation service to all conditional sentences of some impor-
tance; the exploration of the system of day-rate fines; the study of
modern forms of the execution of short-term prison sentences; re-
search in community service models not as an independent penalty,
but as a voluntai’y measure replacing detention in case of non-payment
of a fine; the examination of different schemes of diversion as
practised abroad and research into models of compensation and media-
tion both as independent measures and as conditions attached to sus-
pended sentences.
For the solution of all these tasks I hope that Iceland will remain
in contact with friends abroad, including the Federal Republic of
Germany, the International Association of Penal Law, and the Frei-
burg Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law.
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