It's a Small World, but I Wouldn't Want to Paint it: Learning from Denmark's Experience with Electronic Monitoring

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12090
• Date: 01 August 2014
• Author: Brian K. Payne
• Published date: 01 August 2014

POLICY ESSAY

ELECTRONIC MONITORING ON SOCIAL

WELFARE DEPENDENCE

It’s a Small World, but I Wouldn’t Want

to Paint it

Learning from Denmark’s Experience with Electronic

Monitoring

Brian K. Payne

Old Dominion University

Comedian Steven Wrightonce quipped, “It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to

paint it.” The first part of the sentence points to the global nature of the world

in which we live, how easy it is to get from one country to the next, and how all

cultures are connected in one way or another. The second part of the quote points to the

vastness of our world. Implicit within this quote is an understanding that cultural meanings,

experiences, and growth are influenced by a particular country or region’s political, legal, so-

cial, technological, and geographical contexts. Within this context, Andersen and Andersen’s

(2014, this issue) research on electronic monitoring in Denmark can help to expand our

understanding about electronic monitoring in the United States and other countries.

Andersen and Andersen (2014) should be applauded for their efforts to study the

impact of electronic monitoring reform in Denmark. Their research shows that electronic

monitoring reduces the social welfare dependency of younger offenders, and although it

does not reduce the dependency of older offenders on welfare, it is equally effective (or

equally problematic) as prison for the older age group. The strength of this study is that

it provides additional insight into the utility of electronic monitoring, and this insight can

be used to add context to the debate about the use of electronic monitoring. In particular,

from my perspective, Andersen and Andersen’s study points to the need to address the

following areas: (a) the evolution of electronic monitoring, (b) how electronic monitoring

is defined, (c) the experience of electronic monitoring, (d) the role of theory in electronic

monitoring practices, (e) the future of electronic monitoring research, (f) entrepreneurial

Direct correspondence to Brian K. Payne, Ph.D., Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion

University, 2020C Koch Hall, Norfolk, VA 23529 (e-mail: bpayne@odu.edu).

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12090 C2014 American Society of Criminology 381

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 13 rIssue 3