The Penitentiary Act (law nr. 354, dated 26th July 1975) [IT] introduced some modalities of executing sentences alternative to the traditional detention in prison. That Act assigned to a jurisdictional body (the Supervisory Court, Tribunale di Sorveglianza) the possibility of modifying the modalities of the execution of the sentence, when the prisoner makes some evident progress in his re-socialisation process.

The reform, in order to make its new provisions operational, provided that educators, psychologists, social workers and volunteers work in prisons, in order to plan treatment programmes, which are the basic requirements for the application of alternative measures.

The changes that the law carried out subsequently, following the so-called reforms “Gozzini” [IT] and “Simeone” [IT], highlighted the awarding character of the benefits, and widened the range of the measures. The law provides now also for the possibility to access alternative measures even from liberty, without entering prison in order to undergo the tailored treatment provided for by article 13 [IT]. A special treatment path is provided for the people sentenced for the most serious crimes, as established by article 4-bis [IT] of the Penitentiary Act.

In the phase of enforcement of the alternative measures, the Probation Service Centre is in charge of the sentenced person (Centro di Servizio sociale per adulti); such Centre works in close connection with the services of the local community. The social worker establishes, with the person assigned, a constructive and participative relation, including both control and support. The social worker's action aims at a progressive reinsertion of the person assigned in his/her social context.

A new General Directorate for the Execution of Sentences in the Community [IT] is established at the Department of Penitentiary Administration; it carries out its tasks of direction and coordination of the whole area of the execution of sentences in the community.

However, the alternative measures are different from the alternative punishments, which are imposed by the penal judge without referring to detention: they are the punishments imposed by the justice of peace, and they can also include the so-called substitutive sanctions, provided for by a law of 1981 [IT] about depenalization.