Abstract

The article deals with a study of a distinct criminal punishment established in the Criminal Code and the Code of Punishment Enforcement of the Republic of Lithuania—restriction of liberty, as an alternative to imprisonment. Without investigating extensively the course of development of this penalty, in the article it is sought to overview the development trends of restriction of liberty; analyse the problems of enforcing this penalty and suggest measures to eliminate them; investigate whether the legal regulation of Lithuania is in line with the provisions of the main international instruments relating to non-custodial sanctions (1990 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the so-called Tokyo Rules), Recommendation R (92) 16 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to Member States on the European rules on community sanctions and measures, Recommendation Rec (2000) 22 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to Member States on improving the implementation of the European rules on community sanctions and measures); review the progressive legal regulation of restriction of liberty in place in individual states and provide a comparison between the national and foreign experience in relation to the penalty of restriction of liberty. In addition, the article offers guidelines for the improvement of the legal regulation and implementation of the legal institute of restriction of liberty