Attitudes Toward Electronic Monitoring: An Exploratory Analysis Among Criminal Justice Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The purpose of this research study is to examine attitudes associated with the use of electronic monitoring as a criminal justice sanction in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Utilizing self-reported survey data from 57 graduate students enrolled in a criminal justice policy based course at the University of Sarajevo, students’ attitudes toward electronic monitoring are assessed. Specifically, students’ personal views about whether electronic monitoring meets the sentencing goals of deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation and reintegration are evaluated. Perceptions of the cost-effectiveness of electronic monitoring and the appropriateness of electronic monitoring as a sentence for specific offender types are also examined. Finally, the influence of student socio-demographic characteristics on opinions are also assessed. As a whole, students surveyed appear to support the use of electronic monitoring for juvenile offenders and offenders awaiting trial. Additionally, respondents do not view the conditions associated with electronic monitoring as all that negative or obtrusive. Implications from these findings, as well as limitations and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Computer use monitoring and privacy at work

The rapid growth of new developments in communication technology has brought electronic monitoring to the forefront of today’s workplace concerns. This is an area that in recent years has drawn considerable attention amongst the media, academia and legal scholars demanding that employers do not intrude into employees’ online privacy via electronic monitoring in the workplace. However, electronic monitoring at work is not one-sided and it is arguable that employers have legitimate reasons to justify their action. This paper aims to examine employers’ justification for conducting electronic monitoring by highlighting the potential risk of financial and legal liabilities that employers may incur as a result of employees’ misuse of online services at work.     

The relationships between time in jail,time on electronic monitoring,and recidivism: An event history analysis of a jail-based program

Considerable theoretical and empirical attention has been given to the relationship between time incarcerated and recidivism. Much less attention has been devoted to alternative sanctions such as house arrest with electronic monitoring and recidivism following participation in such programs. In this paper we use event history techniques to assess the relationships between time spent in jail, time spent on electronic monitoring, and recidivism in a sample of offenders who spent at least some time on electronic monitoring. The results suggest that the longer the time on electronic monitoring, the lower the likelihood of recidivism. This effect, however, varies by type of offender. Despite some evidence of a curvilinear relationship between time in jail and recidivism, the relationship is not robust to the inclusion of other control variables. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Electronic surveillance: An alternative to incarceration

This paper discusses the development of electronic monitoring, explains basic functions, discusses applications, provides information on specific equipment, examines test results, and presents a brief overview of the Electronic Surveillance Program (Work Furlough Program) operated by the San Diego County Probation Department. The paper concludes with a synopsis of the major public concerns about electronic monitoring. A version of this paper was presented to the Forty-Second International Conference, Correctional Education Association on July 27, 1987 at the Cathedra Hill Hotel in San Francisco, California.     

The ‘pains’ of electronic monitoring: a slap on the wrist or just as bad as prison?

The purpose of this research is to examine whether inmates that have served electronic monitoring (EM) find it more punitive than offenders that have not served electronic monitoring. We asked a sample of 1194 inmates currently incarcerated in a Midwestern state to estimate exchange rates of electronic monitoring over prison by rating how many months of EM they would serve to avoid 12 months in prison. The results indicate that inmates view EM as less punitive than prison and that monitored offenders find EM more punitive than unmonitored offenders. Additionally, black inmates were more likely to have served EM than white inmates and older inmates find EM more punitive than younger inmates. Previously monitored offenders report that they will be less likely to rely on family and friends upon release from prison. These results suggest that EM is perceived as a punitive sanction by those that have experienced it. Furthermore, racial differences uncovered here may help explain why minorities view alternative sanctions as particularly punitive and may also partially explain why the experience of EM may negatively impact family relationship among those that have served EM.     

Attitudes about electronic monitoring: Minority and majority racial group differences

Past public opinion research routinely uncovered significant variation in attitudes toward justice system policies among different racial groups. The bulk of punishment attitudinal research, for the most part, focused on more severe sanctions, namely, incarceration and the death penalty. More recent research investigated the perspectives and experiences associated with intermediate sanctions. There are few intermediate sanctions receiving more attention than the use of electronic monitoring, especially with sex offenders. In this article, it is demonstrated that non-White college students have significantly different attitudes about the punitiveness and inequality of electronic monitoring. These findings were uncovered through 599 completed surveys from two universities, and using factor analysis and least-squares regression analysis. Theoretical and practical implications for continued use of this sanction are discussed.     

Measuring Electronic Monitoring Tools: The Influence of Vendor Type and Vendor Data

The rise in the use of electronic monitoring tools for management of individuals in both pretrial and post-release correctional stages of the criminal justice system necessitates increased collaboration of criminal justice personnel with private sector companies that provide monitoring services. Given this shift, it is necessary to explore whether agency employees perceive that different vendors are providing levels or quality of services. This study indicates that parole officers perceive very few real differences in the monitoring services, equipment used, and ease of installation and deactivation of such equipment across two different vendors. The primary difference identified was in the costs of such services.     

Application of personal telemonitoring to current problems in corrections

The first electronic monitoring system in corrections was developed in 1964. It was used as an alternative to the incarceration of parolees and mental patients. More recently, with rapid advances in communications technology and data management, personal telemonitoring systems are being developed at several locations in the United States and other countries. Current case law suggests that at least some types of electronic monitoring may be legally permissible when they are used to verify compliance with other acceptable conditions of probation or parole and have demonstrated therapeutic effectiveness. Three major correctional objectives may be achieved through the use of telemonitoring systems: (1) reduced correctional costs, (2) extended protection of the public, and (3) improved rehabilitation of offenders. Considerations should now be given to the important legal and social issues involved in the large scale use of telemonitoring.     

Electronic supervision for sex offenders: Implications for work load, supervision goals, versatility, and policymaking

Electronic monitoring strategies are being used increasingly for sex offenders across the United States. Despite this increased use, few researchers have considered the broader implications for probation and parole officers when these tools are used. In this study, attention was given to how the use of electronic monitoring for sex offenders is related to supervision goals, work load, the use of other supervision strategies, and state level policies. Findings showed significant differences in several areas. The conclusion focuses on community corrections policy implications.     

Book reviews

During the 1980s correctional officials focused considerable energy on the development of intermediate sanctions as alternatives to incarceration. One such alternative is electronically monitored home detention. Although the electronic monitoring equipment was not commercially available until late in 1984, programs were operating in all 50 states by 1990. This study presents a comparative analysis of three electronic monitoring programs: a program for adults charged with a criminal offense and unable to obtain pretrial release; a program designed as an alternative to incarceration for convicted adult offenders; and a program for adjudicated juvenile burglars. Each program operated in the same jurisdiction, used essentially the same equipment, and imposed similar rules and restrictions on behavior. The analysis focuses on comparisons of program delivery, clients' performance, and programmatic sources of variation. The implications of the findings for future program development and evaluation are discussed.     

Changing attitudes toward house arrest with electronic monitoring: the impact of a single presentation?

The notion that community support is critical for program success is a consistent theme in the literature on community-based corrections. Unfortunately, many citizens know very little about alternative sanctions, are misinformed about them, and do not view them favorably. At issue is whether information about alternative sanctions affects individuals' attitudes regarding them. To address this question, students in an upper division criminal justice course were surveyed before and after a presentation on electronic monitoring. Following the presentation, students were more likely to agree that electronic monitoring is punitive and that it meets several goals of the justice system. Implications for policy makers and educators are provided.     

Educational Outcomes After Serving with Electronic Monitoring: Results from a Natural Experiment

Objectives

The paper explores the effects of electronic monitoring (EM) on young offenders’ educational outcomes and contributes to the evaluation of EM as a non-custodial sanction with a new outcome measure.

Methods

The study is based on a natural experiment exploiting a reform in Denmark in 2006 introducing electronic monitoring to all offenders under the age of 25 with a maximum prison sentence of 3 months. Information on program participation is used to estimate instrument variable models in order to assess the causal effects of EM on young offenders’ educational outcomes. The empirical analyses are based on a comprehensive longitudinal dataset (n = 1013) constructed from multiple official administrative registers and including a high number of covariates.

Results

The EM-program increases the completion rates of upper secondary education by 18 % points among program participants 3 years post-release. The EM-program includes house arrest under electronic surveillance, labor market or education participation, unannounced drug and alcohol tests and a crime preventive program. It is not possible to separate the treatment effects of the different program elements in the empirical analyses.

     

Understanding Offenders' Compliance: A Case Study of Electronically Monitored Curfew Orders

The focus of this paper is on offenders' compliance, which is an important but largely neglected area of criminal justice. The paper draws on an empirical study of offenders' compliance with electronically monitored curfew orders with the aim of elucidating theories of compliance. Electronic monitoring is used as a case study to illustrate some of the factors which influence offenders' compliance. One of the main strengths of electronic monitoring is the certainty and speed at which non-compliance can be detected and, as expected, instrumental compliance was found to be important. Nonetheless, the paper suggests that the reasons why offenders comply or fail to comply are complex and interrelated and encompass many different factors including procedural justice, individual motivation, and attachments to significant others. The implications of these findings for compliance theories and community sentence policy are explored.     

Is good-time appropriate for offenders on electronic monitoring?: attitudes of electronic monitoring directors

Since the development of electronic-monitoring programs in the early 80s, questions have surfaced concerning the similarities between institutionalization policies and electronic-monitoring policies. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, recent debate has centered on whether offenders on electronic monitoring should be awarded good-time credits. This article addresses the use of good-time for electronically monitored offenders by content analyzing comments of thirty electronic-monitoring program supervisors surveyed by the Virginia State Crime Commission in 1997. The data suggest that good-time policies can be useful for electronic-monitoring programs in some situations.     

Ethical Considerations in the Conduct of Electronic Surveillance Research

The extant clinical literature indicates profound problems in the assessment, monitoring, and documentation of care in long-term care facilities. The lack of adequate resources to accommodate higher staff-to-resident ratios adds additional urgency to the goal of identifying more cost-effective mechanisms to provide care oversight. The ever expanding array of electronic monitoring technologies in the clinical research arena demands a conceptual and pragmatic framework for the resolution of ethical tensions inherent in the use of such innovative tools. CareMedia is a project that explores the utility of video, audio and sensor technologies as a continuous real-time assessment and outcomes measurement tool. In this paper, the authors describe the seminal ethical challenges encountered during the implementation phase of this project, namely privacy and confidentiality protection, and the strategies employed to resolve the ethical tensions by applying principles of the interest theory of rights.     

Between the ‘Home’ and ‘Institutional’ Worlds: Tensions and Contradictions in the Practice of House Arrest

In this paper we argue that the theoretical work of Goffman (1961) on “total institutions,” Foucault’s (1977) insights into the workings of disciplinary power, and an account of contemporary forms of punishment and social control in postmodern society (Staples 2000) help us better understand the experiences of those individuals sentenced to house arrest. Based on face-to-face interviews with twenty-three people being electronically monitored in a Midwestern metropolitan area, our analysis identifies three themes that illustrate the ways in which electronic monitoring is experienced as a complex amalgam of what Goffman (1961, p. 13) saw as the distinct “home world” and the “institutional world”. These themes include (1) “Home is Where the Machine Is,” (2) “Producing Docile Bodies,” and (3) “Threat of Sanctions”. We reassert our claim (Staples 1994, 2000) that contemporary forms of social control such as electronic monitoring reflect an ongoing struggle to deal with problems and issues set in motion with the birth of modernity.     

Monitoring high-risk sex offenders with GPS

In response to media attention and public demand, legislation increasingly mandates more stringent surveillance for sex offenders. This trend towards greater supervision resulted in the lifetime GPS monitoring of high-risk sex offenders (HRSO) in California. This study assesses the impact of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s GPS program for HRSOs by employing a quasi-experimental design. The treatment group was drawn from all HRSO who were released from prison and placed on GPS monitoring in California. To identify comparison individuals likely to have pretreatment risk characteristics similar to those in the treatment group, a propensity score matching procedure was performed. The final sample included 516 subjects equally divided between the treatment and control groups. Data was assessed using Cox proportional hazards survival analysis clustering participants by parole district. Results showed the GPS condition was associated with significantly fewer parole registration and arrest violations, arrests, and convictions. These results are discussed in relation to other electronic monitoring research, the policy implications for the increasing use of this technology, and its effectiveness in reducing crime, prison populations, and ensuring public safety.     

Service evaluation of electronic monitoring (GPS tracking) in a medium secure forensic psychiatry setting

In 2010, following a series of high-profile absconding incidents, electronic monitoring (EM) using Global Positioning System technology for patients on leave was trialled as part of a comprehensive protocol for risk management and recovery. We conducted a preliminary evaluation of effect on leave and leave violation. The total number of leave episodes and leave violations over a four-month period prior to the introduction of EM was compared with the totals in two corresponding follow-up periods in the two years after the introduction. Total episodes of leave increased by almost 60%. There was a significant association between year and type of leave episode, with leave episodes after the introduction of EM more likely to be unescorted. Episodes of leave violation reduced in each of the two follow-up periods after introduction of EM. These findings suggest potential benefits for speed of patient recovery, reduced length of stay, reduced costs and public safety.     

再谈监禁刑执行变更范式的转换

刑法修正案(八)在限制减刑的同时,犯罪化、刑罚化的取向明显,监禁人口增加和场所周转率下降将陷监禁刑的执行于极度的被动;鉴于当下现制依重于减刑已不适应行刑需要,废除减刑代之以假释又不能解燃眉之急,应对之策是:一方面在节制减刑基础上,清晰适用对象和条件;另一方面为加大假释力度,设置过渡场所和尝试电子监控技术,或能走出监禁刑执行的困境。