NCJ Number
185746
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 17 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2000 Pages: 733-752
Editor(s)
Finn-Aage Esbensen
Date Published
December 2000
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Because considerable theoretical and empirical attention has been paid to the relationship between time incarcerated and recidivism but much less attention has been devoted to alternative sanctions such as house arrest with electronic monitoring and recidivism following participation in such programs, the authors used event history techniques to assess the relationships between time spent in jail, time spent on electronic monitoring, and recidivism in a sample of offenders in Virginia who spent at least some time on electronic monitoring.
Abstract
The electronic monitoring program examined in the study, developed in 1986 and the first to operate in Virginia, is located in an urban area and has a standard set of 19 rules and conditions. Data on this program were collected in December 1998 from case files of offenders and from the National Crime Information Center. The data included records on 276 offenders who served at least part of their sentence on electronic monitoring between September 1986 and July 1993. Offenders were followed from about 5 to 12 years after release from electronic monitoring. Results suggested the longer the amount of time on electronic monitoring, the lower the likelihood of recidivism. This effect, however, varied by offender type. Despite some evidence of a curvilinear relationship between time in jail and recidivism, the relationship was not robust to the inclusion of other other control variables. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed in terms of deterrence and sociological theories of recidivism, criminogenic effects of electronic monitoring, and public understanding of and support for alternative sanctions. 58 references, 3 tables, and 1 figure