The influences of electronic monitoring in desistance processes: practitioner and decision-maker perspectives

Abstract

This article canvasses practitioner and decision-maker perspectives of the influences of electronic monitoring (EM) in processes of desistance from crime, with a particular focus on their views of its use with young people aged 16 to 25 years old. Presenting findings from a qualitative mixed methods study, we offer a bounded exploration of the views of different actors working in the Scottish criminal justice field, which are framed and analysed here through the lenses of desistance scholarship. This article focuses on one facet of empirical findings from the research conducted in Scotland - participant perspectives of the uses and effects of electronic monitoring for young adults in desistance processes. Overall, the Scottish jurisdictional findings and recommendations are much wider, and form part of a larger European comparative research project involving four other jurisdictions: England & Wales, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.