Get to know us
About Confederation of European Probation (CEP)
CEP is the Confederation of European Probation. It aims to promote the social inclusion of offenders through community sanctions and measures such as probation, community service, mediation and conciliation. CEP is committed to enhance the profile of probation and to improve professionalism in this field, on a national and a European level.
CEP was founded in 1981 as the ‘Conférence permanente Européenne de la Probation’. Since October 2013, CEP is an acronym of Confederation of European Probation.
CEP promotes pan-European cooperation by organising conferences on actual topics in probation. By making the reports of these events available, by publishing its digital newsletter and through this website, CEP stimulates the exchange of ideas on probation. In this way it makes an important contribution to the development of community sanctions and measures.
Its members are organisations working in the field of probation and interested individuals. CEP thus brings together practitioners, managers, academics, stakeholders and others working in the field of probation and criminal justice from all over Europe. Together they represent a unique network of expertise about positive ways of working with offenders in the community. Their common concern is how to protect society without resorting to the expense of prison.
To European bodies such as the European Union and the Council of Europe, CEP is the spokesperson for the sector of probation, providing expertise and comparative data. It is therefore the voice of probation in ‘Brussels’.
What we do
We strive to contribute to safer communities by rehabilitating and reintegrating people who offended and providing the best possible interventions to reduce offending and the impact of crime.
Our Aims
Creating an excellent international member organisation that is transparent, efficient and innovative;
Participating in projects relating to probation and communicating outcomes;
Appreciating diversity and difference;
Bringing together the knowledge base, research and practice to improve learning and outcomes;
Demonstrating leadership and modelling effectiveness;
Building effective partnerships across the criminal justice sector in Europe;
Making probation understandable and accessible;
Representing the probation sector to European institutions;
Advocating probation at an international level;
Reaching out to other jurisdictions.
Focussing on dissemination of probation policy, knowledge and expertise;
Financial Strategy
Membership fees
to hold membership fees at a level that avoids increasing the pressures on members; to seek to widen the membership and increase numbers of organisations in CEP according to the statutes;
Operating Grant
continue in supporting the core business of CEP and delivering excellent services;
Action Grants
to be an active participant in European projects and be paid to contribute using our pan-European links and services; to take the lead in an EU project and deliver project management;
Generating income
identifying new ways of generating income in line with CEP’s values and objectives;
Developing partnerships
expanding sponsorship for specific events.
Meet our board members
The General Assembly takes place every three years. The last General Assembly was held in Dubrovnik, Croatia on 19 October 2022.
The CEP Board has a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer and a maximum of eight ordinary Board members. The General Assembly elects the President, two Vice-Presidents and a minimum of three and a maximum of five other board members from among its members. Three members may be appointed by the Board from among the full or associated members to ensure that the specific expertise and interests are represented. The Board appoints the Treasurer, who can be a board member or an ex-officio board member of which an explanation is given in the internal regulations. For more information please see the Statute and Internal Regulations.
Meet our staff members
Meet our dedicated staff members, committed to delivering excellence and supporting our mission.
Organisational documents
Strategies
Get to know more about the founding and history of CEP
In November 1980, at the initiative of Dutch and German Probation organisations, representatives from 14 countries met at the Reisenburg Castle near Ulm in Germany with the idea of promoting cooperation in Probation work through some form of permanent organisation rather than the more ad hoc arrangements of the time.
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