NCJ Number
193056
Date Published
May 1999
Length
58 pages
Annotation
This document describes the impact of electronic monitoring (EM) in Canada.
Abstract
A relatively recent innovation, EM is intended to enhance compliance with house arrest. Offenders are placed under community supervision with the condition that they stay in their homes with some exceptions to attend work or other legitimate activities. EM equipment, often in the form of bracelets worn about the ankle, emits signals to a computer within the correctional agency ensuring knowledge about the offender’s whereabouts. The goals of EM programs are to seek a less costly diversion of offenders from imprisonment, and to look to reduce the risk of re-offending. The present evaluation focused on EM in three provinces: British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland. Two of the programs (British Columbia and Newfoundland) were corrections based, selecting sentenced inmates from area prisons. The EM program in Saskatchewan is court based where the judge places offenders on probation with a condition of electronic monitoring. EM offenders in British Columbia are supervised by institutional correctional officers while probation officers provide the supervision in the other provinces. In Newfoundland, EM offenders are required to attend an intensive treatment program offered in the community. There are two general findings that have important implications for policy and practice. No evidence was found that EM has a more significant impact on recidivism than the less intrusive and less costly correctional measure of probation. Thus, the “value added” of EM programs appears limited. Second, cognitive-behavioral treatment programming targeting higher risk offenders was associated with significant reductions in offender recidivism. Continued support of treatment programs for higher risk offenders, perhaps married with EM to increase treatment attendance, is suggested. 13 tables, 36 references