Electronic Monitoring: It Is a Tool, Not a Silver Bullet

• Date: 01 August 2014
• Published date: 01 August 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12089
• Author: Matthew DeMichele

POLICY ESSAY

ELECTRONIC MONITORING ON SOCIAL

WELFARE DEPENDENCE

Electronic Monitoring

It Is a Tool, Not a Silver Bullet

Matthew DeMichele

RTI International

High incarceration rates have become an engrained aspect of the American social

landscape. The oft-cited figures show that the U.S. incarceration rate has grown

from approximately 125 per 100,000 throughout much of the 20th century to

more than 700 per 100,000. The effects of mass incarceration (Garland, 2001) have been felt

unevenly as the poor, uneducated, and young experience the brunt of this growth (Western,

2006). The negative consequences of incarceration do not end after release from prison

as a criminal conviction hinders many from participating in the central components of

prosocial life, including employment (Pager,Western, and Sugie, 2009) and voting (Uggen

and Manza, 2006). Community supervision with electronic monitoring is believed to be an

alternative sanction to alleviate the high financial costs and social consequences associated

with mass incarceration.

Comparative research has the potential to identify alternative strategies to address the

negative consequences associated with high incarceration rates. Andersen and Andersen

(2014, this issue) provide an intriguing analysis pointing to the potential for electronic

monitoring as a less harmful punishment that reduced the dependency on social welfare

among younger offenders in Denmark. Electronic monitoring is used in several countries

including the United Kingdom (Nellis, 2005), Belgium (Maes and Mine, 2013), Sweden

(Marklund and Holmberg, 2009), and Argentina (DiTella and Schargrodsky, 2013). Elec-

tronic monitoring was adopted in the United States in the 1980s and has spread to every

state in the country (Button, DeMichele, and Payne, 2009), but there has been little rigor-

ous research evaluating the impacts of electronic monitoring (Renzema and Mayo-Wilson,

2005). The lack of U.S. research leaves questions about the efficacy of community supervi-

sion with electronic monitoring. Looking to comparative scholarship can help U.S. policy

Direct correspondence to Matthew DeMichele, RTI International, 406 Hill, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

(email: mdemichele@rti.org).

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12089 C2014 American Society of Criminology 393

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 13 rIssue 3