The author tries to give a brief overview of the development of the probation system in the Republic of Croatia and the role of the probation service in the execution of alternative sanctions and measures. This paper aims to outline, through the presentation of legal frameworks and the practice of imposing and implementing alternative sanctions so far, the usefulness and pragmatism of alternative sanctions and measures as the most appropriate measures for certain categories of criminal offences, i.e. specific categories of perpetrators. The author elaborates on the conceptual determination of alternative sanctions and probation and presents their differential notions and basic assumptions. Regarding the regulation and arrangement of alternative sanctions and measures, several documents have been adopted at the international and regional level and had a stimulating effect on the legislator regarding the reform of our criminal justice system. The prism of the organisational structure of the probation service in the Republic of Croatia, as well as the probation work in individual stages of criminal proceedings, undoubtedly indicates that the Republic of Croatia has opted for a rehabilitation approach to the enforcement of sanctions with an emphasis on humanisation in the punishment approach. The author discusses the types of alternative sanctions (in a broader sense) in the Republic of Croatia. Community service has become one of the most represented of all probation works, for which reason, in this paper, the most attention has been given to it. The increasing trend of making probation office reports, at the request of the enforcement judge, indicates the growing confidence of courts in the probation service, which is only one aspect of the success indicators of imposing and implementing alternative sanctions and measures. Ultimately, the author gives its reflections on the probation system de lege lata and de lege ferenda. The study on the imposition and enforcement of alternative sanctions and measures is based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the State Attorney’s Office Report, the Attorney General’s Report, and the Probation Service Performance Report.