4. Experiencing Electronic Monitoring in Europe
The Confederation of European Probation (CEP) organises biannual conferences – the…
Based on returned questionnaires, the following findings were identified:…
•Electronic monitoring is being used at different stages of the criminal justice…
•Electronic monitoring is used most frequently at the sentencing stage, as a form…
•The majority of the European electronic monitoring programmes are national and…
•Most of the jurisdictions are using both radiofrequency and GPS technologies.…
•In most instances, probation agencies are responsible for the monitoring servic…
•Most countries do not have an independent body or other organisation to scrutinise…
Although some common features could be identified, in many regards, the application…
Based on the questionnaire, the following benefits were mentioned regarding…
a.Social and personal advantages…
→Prevention of the negative side effects of prison/detention;…
→Less social exclusion, prisoners can continue to work and be a productive member…
→Maintaining social and community ties and bonds, strengthening individuals’ positive…
→Continuation of treatment;…
→Enhancement of self-discipline and awareness of the impact of offences;…
→Decreasing recidivism;…
→Provides structure to offenders’ daily lives and the support of a social worker…
→reinforced and trustworthy way to give individuals better possibilities to live…
b.Supervision…
→EM promotes compliance with probation strategies;…
→Efficient and effective monitoring of compliance with court conditions;…
→Effective control of offenders and accused;…
→More effective supervision (behaviour-change) with a combination of guidance and…
→Change crime patterns linked to places, people or specific schedules.…
c.Reduce the use of prisons…
→Alternative to prison, reduced prison populations…
→Decreasing prevalence of imprisonment for low-risk target groups.d.Finance…
→Reduce costs;…
→Less human resources are needed compared to imprisonment.…
In terms of the main challenges of using EM, five main themes emerged:…
a.Technological…
→Technical issues, problems with equipment, false alerts;…
→Future improvements in technical sectors;…
→Devices, enabling the equipment to operate in accordance with probation’s vision,…
→The location outside EU of technology companies and staff members providing EM…
→Technical accuracy of GPS system;…
→In a good and continuously trustworthy way, introduce the use of GPS, to confirm…
b.Supervision…
→Monitoring persons with drug issues;…
→Combining treatment with monitoring technology during probation.…
c.Cooperation…
→Organising cooperation efficiently between probation, monitoring centre, prisons…
→Time of police intervention (domestic violence).…
d.Trust…
→Judges and community do not always trust in the effectiveness of the system;…
→Explaining the benefits of EM to the general public;Sayfa 120…
→Public opinion – individual cases influence the public’s opinion of EM;…
→Some political trends and even some authorities still do not understand EM.…
e.Staff training…
→Keeping officers well trained;…
→education of personnel, improvement of routines and processes.…
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