NCJ Number
176698
Date Published
1997
Length
144 pages
Annotation
This book examines the electronic monitoring of offenders.
Abstract
Tagging has been advocated principally by politicians, who find it an irresistible aid in trying to cajole and reassure an electorate which has become increasingly skeptical about the power of any politician to make an impact on crime. However, it is by no means clear that tagging can make a significant contribution to criminal justice systems, either as a community-based penalty in its own right, or as an adjunct to other community sentences, or as a way of reducing the increasingly expensive use of prisons. Critics of tagging see it as redolent of excessive state control, as an oppressive instrument of the increasingly stringent apparatus of criminal sanctions, or as a technological gimmick with little to offer by way of reducing reoffending. Advocates claim reduced recidivism and economic effectiveness through reduced prison sites. While claim and counterclaim are disputed, the technology is developing at a breathtaking pace. This book examines the technology and experiences with electronic monitoring in a number of countries. References, acronyms, tables, appendixes, bibliography, index