Literature review of sentences with electronic monitoring (ankle bracelet)

Vista Analyse will conduct a literature review research on the execution of sentences with electronic monitoring on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.

Criminal execution with electronic monitoring (EM) has been used in Norway since 2008, and has been evaluated several times, including by Statistics Norway (2013) and Vista Analyse (2016). However, there are no analyses of the use of electronic monitoring in Norway, which identifies causal mechanisms. In addition, there are many different aspects of EM that have not been investigated in these evaluations. Several reviews and meta-analyses have been conducted of the impact of EM on recidivism compared to prison sentences. However, there are no corresponding reviews of other aspects of EM, including other outcomes, mechanisms, profitability and perceptions in society.

In this project, we will review existing research on a number of different issues related to electronic monitoring, including:

1. What is the effect of EM on recidivism into new crime? This issue is intended to capture the individual preventive and general preventive effects of the EM for different types of offences, and whether and how EM acts as a deterrent and improvement compared to other forms of punishment.
2. What is the effect of EM on other relevant outcome variables, such as employment, health and education?
3. What factors or mechanisms influence the effects of EM? These factors may include execution time and length of sentence, whether all or only part of the sentence is on EM, the type of technology used during surveillance, access to welfare services, degree of follow-up or control of the convicted person. Other relevant factors may be whether the EM is imposed by a court or on application from the convicted person, how the EM is implemented in practice and what conditions must be in place for the EM to function as intended.
4. Is EM economically profitable, compared to other forms of punishment?