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Electronic monitoring enables different, more transparent and open ways of enforcing sentences. This study examines Finnish Supervised Probationary Freedom (SPF) from the perspective of a desistance from crime. We analyze what meanings sentenced people give to SPF in terms of their desistance from crime, adopting the viewpoints of moderate social constructionism and rhetorical analysis. The research data was collected from interviews of 26 people who had experience with SPF. According to the results, SPF supervision and participation in SPF activities can create a framework for practicing a crime- and drug-free life. The person's own desire to desist is the starting point. Support provided by prison and probation employees appears to be central to the construction of a new identity. Support from social work is necessary to complete SPF, and NGO support enhances reintegration into society during the SPF. However, the opportunities on offer for reentry are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the moderating power of the European Qualification Framework (EQF), European higher education has, for some time, been moving in a competence-oriented direction in some educational systems. The EQF is a competence framework that defines standards to all levels of qualification. The framework is set up to facilitate comparison of qualifications and qualifications' levels between and within different national educational systems. In this article, we are using the EQF to set the standards for the comparison between different higher education qualifications. The purpose is to reflect upon the differences of graduates with academically-oriented and professionally-oriented Master's degrees. We approach this problem by asking employers (survey, n=134) and graduates (interviews, n=30) for their opinion of how well the competence of academic and professional Master's degrees fit the objectives of the EQF level 7. Moreover, we are interested to explore how well the EQF lends itself to this kind of a comparison. The particular context for this study is the Finnish dual system of higher education.

Background: The digitization of health care and social welfare services creates many opportunities for the rehabilitation of incarcerated people and their preparation for release from prison. A range of digital platforms and technology solutions have been developed that offer multiple opportunities to handle private matters either by video conference, email, or some other digital format during imprisonment. However, incarcerated people have limited access to digital health care and social welfare services, and face challenges related to shortcomings in their digital skills and self-efficacy.Objective: This article assessed the significance of incarcerated people's self-efficacy in terms of their sense of control over the use of digital health care and social welfare services.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire. Research data were collected from 11 prisons in different parts of Finland, and a total of 225 incarcerated people responded to the survey. Statistical analyses were conducted using the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, 2-tailed t test, linear regression analysis, and Hayes bootstrapping method.Results: The results showed the significance of both general and internet-specific self-efficacy, which appear to be more important for the use of digital health care and social welfare services than factors related to a person's socioeconomic background or sentence. Age was negatively correlated with perceived control over the use of digital health care and social welfare services. Furthermore, the study emphasized the importance of support from family and friends, as well as prison employees.Conclusions: The digitalization of prisons offers many opportunities, but special consideration should be given to how the digitization of health care and social welfare services responds to the needs of incarcerated people in terms of their integration into society and the prevention of recidivism. During imprisonment, attention should be paid to strengthening the digital skills of incarcerated people, with support provided by prison employees. In addition to providing guidance on the use of individual digital services, the study recommends strengthening the general digital skills of incarcerated people, as well as developing their life management skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]