Suspended sentences in Estonia

This chapter outlines the history and development of suspended prison sentences in Estonia, including debates about their proper role and aims, substantive criminal law provisions, and their practical application. A suspended prison sentence is a very frequent sanction in Estonia – it is imposed in more than half of all cases involving sentenced offenders. The legal approach to suspended sentences in Estonia is to treat them as a modality of punishment, rather than a specific form of punishment. In practical terms, this means that the court first decides on the type and amount of punishment that is due in the individual case – a choice that usually comes down to either imprisonment or pecuniary punishment. In deciding whether to suspend the sentence, the court is furthermore guided by both objective criteria (deserved imprisonment must be less than five years) and can also only base the decision on a positive assessment of the offender&s;s traits. This means that imprisonment can be suspended if the court assessing the personal characteristics of the offender concludes that the offender&s;s probability of conducting a law-abiding life after the conviction, even in the absence of imprisonment, is high enough to justify the decision and save the scarce criminal justice resources.