Electronic Monitoring: The Trials and Their Results

• NCJ Number: 132681
• Author(s): G Mair; C Nee
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 84 pages
• Corporate Author: Great Britain Home Office
• Sale Source: Her Majesty's Stationery Office
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This report on a pilot project to test the feasibility of electronic monitoring in England and Wales addresses the organization and operation of the project, monitoring results, and the views of those given pretrial release subject to a condition of electronic monitoring.

Abstract

The project, begun in August 1989, was conducted at Nottingham, North Tyneside, and Tower Bridge in London. The project concluded in 1990. The project used the "active" system of electronic monitoring which monitors a person for the whole of any curfew period and uses a telephone call only when an infraction is suspected. This system consists of three pieces of equipment: a transmitter-bracelet that is worn on the wrist or leg that sends out signals when it is within range of a receiver-dialer attached to the telephone line. It relays the signals to a central computer that receives and stores these data and warns any operator when a person is absent from the house during any curfew period. All persons selected for the study were volunteers who would have otherwise been held in pretrial detention. The study involved 50 defendants on electronic monitoring. The study concludes that electronic monitoring was used as an alternative to pretrial detention, since most of those admitted to the program had been in custody prior to the monitoring. The majority of those monitored were charged with additional offenses or with absconding, which usually meant they were remanded in custody, but there is nothing against which this high level of violations can be compared. The project did not show electronic monitoring to be cost effective because of the low numbers monitored and the number of violations recorded. It is only likely to be cost effective if a large number of persons are monitored. Given the low numbers of defendants suitable for the program, cost effectiveness is not likely to be achieved in a nationwide monitoring program. 24 references and an electronic monitoring agreement sample.