NCJ Number
130159
Journal
Probation Journal Volume: 37 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1990) Pages: 72-77
Date Published
1990
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Implementation of electronic monitoring of offenders is evaluated in Britain and the United States.
Abstract
The British experience with electronic monitoring consists of experiments costing 12,000 pounds sterling per tagged defendant to evaluate the technology and cost efficacy of the system. Although the White Paper proposed that tagging be used to enforce the new curfew order, the results of the 1989 experiment indicate otherwise. In the United States, as of mid-1989, the system is used for monitoring about 7,000 offenders, mainly those convicted of drunk driving and other traffic and minor property offenses. Reports from Florida suggest that most offenders rated house arrest as a more positive experience than jail. Although electronic monitoring can reduce the prison population by removing unconvicted and minor offenders, the question remains whether tagging is the most effective measure of achieving this end. In England and Wales, other alternatives such as probation orders and community services orders seem to work relatively well. The main concern with tagging is with the subjection of future society to constant control, discipline, and surveillance. 4 references (Author abstract modified)