NCJ Number
248046
Journal
Internal Security Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: July-December 2013 Pages: 107-125
Date Published
December 2013
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article provides an overview of a study, commissioned by the Minister of Justice, which was carried out by the Warsaw Institute of Justice at the turn of 2011 and 2012. The study focused on issues of why the provisions of the Act of September 7, 2007 on the execution of custody sentences outside prison employing the system of electronic monitoring are not widely enough used.
Abstract
The introduction of electronic monitoring into the Polish legal system aimed at reducing the population of inmates in prisons, as well as the enhancement of measures available in criminal law against the perpetrators of minor crimes. According to the government project it was planned that the system will eventually cover 7500 convicted offenders a year, while at the beginning of 2012 there were just over 2000 people covered by such monitoring. The article provides an overview of a study, commissioned by the Minister of Justice, which was carried out by the Warsaw Institute of Justice at the turn of 2011 and 2012. The study focused on issues of why the provisions of the Act of September 7, 2007 on the execution of custody sentences outside prison employing the system of electronic monitoring are not widely enough used. The report was prepared on the basis of an analysis of more than 400 cases from all over the country, in which convicted offenders were denied the use of electronic monitoring through their applications either being refused or discontinued. It is possible that one of the reasons for the application of the Act to a lesser extent than was intended is preference by convicted offenders for applying for the use of conditional release. Moreover, the statutory criteria for adjudication of electronic monitoring are so highly evaluative, that they have no controlling influence in terms of appealing decisions made in the district courts. (Published Abstract)