The resolution was prompted by the realization that short-term imprisonment was being widely used for misdemeanors and other minor offenses, despite recognition of its harmful effects on offenders and efforts to promote alternative sanctions. Nearly all European countries are facing a shortage of prison capacity and have tried to increase capacity by various methods including automating the administration of the prison system, constructing or reopening prisons, granting general amnesties or pardons, double-celling inmates, increasing the use of conditional release, and reducing sentences for property offenses. During the last decade many countries have introduced the community service order, either as a principal sentence or as a condition under a suspended or conditional sentence. Both the idea and its implementation have varied somewhat in different countries. However, the successful implementation of this sanction requires a well-reasoned statutory regulation and a carefully prepared infrastructure.