Electronic Monitoring in Scotland

Abstract

This briefing paper summarises new research findings and key recommendations about the current uses of Electronic Monitoring (EM) in Scotland. It forms a part of a comparative research project examining creativity and effectiveness in the uses of EM as an alternative to prison in 5 European jurisdictions: Scotland, England & Wales, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The findings and recommendations provided here are based on analysis of 30 interviews conducted in 2015 with various actors in Scotland whose roles are relevant to EM, statistics and literature review, and 53 hours of ethnographic observation of the tagging process involving EM field officers visiting monitored people in their homes and observing EM staff operated by private services provider G4S at the National Electronic Monitoring Centre in Glasgow.