Laboratory

The Laboratoire romand sur la décroissance carcérale (“Laboratory”), created at the University of Geneva in 2024, is a collaborative space composed of around twenty members: personalities from the political sphere, judicial sector and civil society, as well as academics. Its members participate in this project in a personal capacity. 

The aim of the “Laboratory” is to understand the causes and consequences of over-incarceration in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, particularly in the cantons of Vaud and Geneva. Taken together, these two cantons have a significantly higher rate of detention than the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The Laboratory is working to identify sustainable solutions to reduce the prison population. The Finnish model - a country which has successfully and sustainably reduced its use of imprisonment – serves as one of the main sources of inspiration for these reflections.

The Laboratory  has a “godmother” member, Ruth Dreifuss, former President of the Swiss Confederation and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. Its other members are:

• Pierre Bayenet, public prosecutor, Canton of Geneva

• Jean-Sébastien Blanc, co-head of the Laboratory (UNIGE)

• Alia Chaker Mangeat, member of the parliament (Grand Conseil) of the Canton of Geneva (Le Centre)

• Lauriane Constanty, president of Infoprisons

• Denis Corboz, member of the parliament (Grand Conseil) of the Canton of Vaud (PS)

• Christian Dandrès, member of the lower chamber (Conseil national) of the Swiss parliament (PS)

• Cathy Day, board member of the Swiss League for Human Rights - Geneva

• Julie de Dardel, co-head of the Laboratory (UNIGE)

• Daniel Fink, criminologist, member of the research team (UNIGE)

• Manon Jendly, professor of criminology (UNIL)

• André Kuhn, professor of criminology (UNINE and UNIGE)

• Camille Perrier Depeursinge, president of AJURES and professor of criminal law (UNIL)

• Florence Laufer, director of Prison Insider

• Viviane Schekter, director of the REPR Foundation (Relais Enfants Parents Romands) 

• Léna Strasser, member of the parliament (Grand Conseil) of the Canton of Geneva (PS)

• Aimée Zermatten, specialist in penal sanctions