Offender Rehabilitation around the World
Similar to Japan’s Hogoshi (volunteer probation officers), there are volunteers who devote their time and energy to the rehabilitation of offenders outside of Japan, and there are also numerous public awareness/crime prevention campaigns held in many jurisdictions and regions like our Yellow Feather Campaign.
This page showcases volunteers or movements from around the world.
(＊Please look forward to more links in the future!)
Also, in 2024 at the Second World Congress for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration, which was held in the Netherlands, the Declaration on the International Day for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration was endorsed, making April 17th the International Day for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration (more info on the International Day mentioned below). Following the endorsement of the declaration, the Ministry of Justice of Japan aims to further promote the efforts of community volunteers involved in the field of offender rehabilitation.
Contributing to the Further Promotion of Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration Worldwide What is the International Day for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration?
The International Day for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration aimed to shed much needed light on the activities and efforts of volunteers who help offenders get back on the right track and to acknowledge their dedication. At the Second World Congress for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration, the declaration to make April 17th the International Day was endorsed by the participants of the Congress and several international organizations.
Explore the World of Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Rehabilitation around the Globe A Peek at Some of the Activities of Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Rehabilitation
Similar to Japan’s Hogoshi (volunteer probation officers), there are community volunteers that support offender reintegration all over the world. Below are links to websites or social media sites of relevant organizations.
Singapore
In Singapore, Volunteer Case Officers, or VCOs, support those who are incarcerated or those on conditional release get back into society.
Like Japan’s Yellow Feather Campaign, Singapore’s Yellow Ribbon Project is an awareness-raising campaign that advocates for second chances for ex-offenders.
Information on Volunteer Case Officers
Official Website facebookOn the Yellow Ribbon Project 20th Anniversary Website
Official WebsiteThailand
In Thailand, Volunteer Probation Officers, or VPOs, are volunteers that work with Professional Probation Officers.
Both probation officers and VPOs take part in public awareness movements like traffic safety campaigns.
Information on Volunteer Probation Officers
YouTube channelConnecting with Other Jurisdictions through Offender Rehabilitation Shining Light on Public Awareness Activities through Global Collaborations
About the Kick-off event for the 74th Yellow Feather Campaign
To promote the 74th Yellow Feather Campaign, a kick-off event was held on July 5, 2024, with volunteers and practitioners involved in the field of offender rehabilitation from Singapore and Thailand joining us online. Both countries introduced how community volunteers are making a difference and shared their efforts with the audience. For more information on this exciting event and many other videos, please check out the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) YouTube channel!
Ministry of Justice（MOJ）YouTube Channel
Participating in the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run
Staff of the Rehabilitation Bureau, Ministry of Justice of Japan, had the opportunity to participate in the 2024 Yellow Ribbon Prison Run!
Similar to the Yellow Feather Campaign of Japan, Singapore’s Yellow Ribbon Project is a public awareness campaign that promotes giving offenders a second chance in life.
The Yellow Ribbon Prison Run, which is held on September every year since 2009, is a charitable event that calls in many citizen runners, and this year, there were more than 11,000 participants, making it the largest turnout ever.
Runners choose between the 5 km or 10 km run, but both courses follow a path with ups and downs, which symbolizes how the road to rehabilitation is not a straight one.
There is a fee to participate, but anyone is free to take part in this exciting event; if you happen to visit Singapore during September, why not join the cause?
About the World Congress for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration
In order for offenders/juvenile delinquents to rehabilitate, cooperation from community volunteers who support their reintegration into society is crucial. The World Congress for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration (hereinafter referred to as the WCCV) has become the place for discussing how invaluable it is for community volunteers like Hogoshi to partake in offender reintegration and how to further promote the activities of such volunteers around the world.
The first WCCV was held on March 7, 2021, in Japan, and one of its achievements was the adoption of the “Kyoto Hogoshi Declaration”, which shed light internationally on community volunteers like Hogoshi and urged member states to set up systems of community volunteers, as well as establishing an international day for community volunteers supporting offender reintegration.
On April 17, 2024, in The Hague, Netherlands, the Second WCCV was held. At the WCCV, practitioners and community volunteers involved in the field of offender rehabilitation from Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, Singapore, Thailand, the UK and the USA gathered to deliver presentations and discuss how to further promote community volunteers supporting offender rehabilitation, like Hogoshi, and how to obtain new volunteer candidates. The declaration to make April 17th the International Day for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration was endorsed by the participants of the Congress and several international organizations.
More info on the International Day here.