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What kinds of measures exist?

EM technologies are used in the criminal justice system to monitor compliance with orders, conditions or requirements of early release from prison and community punishments.

This project will focus on location monitoring.[1] Monitored people are therefore required to be in a particular place or area or not be in a specific place. We collected some examples for you to show what this means:

 

  1. Home detention and house arrest

These conditions usually require monitored people to stay inside a building at all times. The technology is used to alert the authorities that a person has left the house. For example, in Hungary, suspects on EM can be forbidden to leave their house during the trial. In Germany, offenders leaving prison may first need to stay indoors 24 hours a day for some time.

 

 

 

  1. Curfews

It is possible that people on EM need to be at one place only for some hours of the day. It typically means that people have to stay at home. In England and Wales and the Netherlands, curfew hours are usually overnight.

 

 

 

  1. Monitoring non-home locations

It is possible that people on EM are allowed to move around freely as long as they attend school or go to work. In this case, they are monitored only when they are at these places.

 

 

 

  1. Exclusion from parts of the town

Some measures lay down forbidden areas (exclusion zones) to people, typically to protect victims or witnesses or prevent people from going to places where they would commit crimes. The size of exclusion zones can vary from small areas to whole towns. For example, in Scotland, the court can say that one has to stay ‘away from’ a place, 24 hours a day, for up to 12 months.

 

 

 

  1. Inclusion zones

Inclusion zones mean that people wearing the tag have to stay in a specific area. An inclusion zone can be as small as a house, but it may be an entire town. In Hungary, suspects on EM can be forbidden to leave their town during the trial.

 

 

 

 

  1. Tracking

It is possible that a person is allowed to move freely throughout the country wearing a tag. The only condition is that authorities collect the data on their whereabouts.

 

 

 

 

If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact Eszter Parkanyi (e.parkanyi[at]leeds.ac.uk).

 

Last updated: 12/12/2018

[1] Tags also exist which monitor alcohol consumption. These are used to monitor whether a person drinks alcohol in the case when they should not do so.