Electronic Monitoring of Prisoners and Recidivism: Findings From a Randomized Controlled Trial in the Federal State of Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

• In Event: Roundtable: Does Electronic Monitoring Reduce Recidivism?

Abstract

In 2010, the German federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg passed a law that enabled electronic monitoring of prisoners on the state level. A research project with a RCT-design was launched at the Max -Planck- Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law to evaluate with the aim to evaluate this pilot project. The area of application included home detention as a means of release preparation and early work release in the context of day parole. The first phase of the research project, completed in February 2014, evaluated the implementation of the measure and analyzed the psychological und psychosocial effects of electronic monitoring. The current, second phase aims to examine whether the use of electronic monitoring has a positive impact on recidivism. We therefore compare the recidivism rates of the treatment and control groups, i.e., of prisoners who were randomly assigned to the measure of electronically monitored release preparation or early work release versus prisoners who served their regular sentence behind prison walls. In addition, we include data of a matched control group. We thus empirically examine the research question whether electronically monitored prisoners exhibit a decreased risk of reoffending and discuss the results against the background of theoretical considerations.

Authors

• Katharina Jelena Meuer, Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law

• Gunda Woessner, Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law