Electronic Monitoring System versus imprisonment - comparison of recidivism rates

• In Event: Prison Working Group: Recidivism trends and consequences

Abstract

The Electronic Monitoring System (EMS) in Poland is intended for short-term prisoners sentenced to up to 18 months imprisonment which constitutes about 1/3 total convicted prison population. This system aims to enable sentenced prisoners to serve their sentences in conditions close to freedom. While preserving the severity of the sentence, convicts can simultaneously stay with their families or work. By reducing the pains of imprisonment, it is assumed that convicts will find their place in society more easily at the end of their sentence, thereby increasing their chances for desistance from crime. Do the quantitative data support this hypothesis? To answer this question, in the last years at the Polish Institute of Justice, we undertook this first large-scale study of recidivism among convicts who had been sentenced to imprisonment but with the possibility to serve the sentence in EMS. We analysed two groups. One of them was convicts who from 2018 to 2019 had been sentenced to imprisonment and which penalty was served in EMS. The second one (control group) was convicts who at the same time had been sentenced to equal short-term imprisonment and served them in prison. In total, we surveyed nearly 10,000 convicts. Our findings show that there are differences in recidivism rates in both groups. We also correlate the results with data such as gender, age, and type of crime committed.

Authors

• Joanna Klimczak, Institute of Justice, Poland

• Paweł Ostaszewski, University of Warsaw and Institute of Justice, Poland

• Justyna Włodarczyk-Madejska, Institute of Law Studies Polish Academy of Sciences and Institute of Justice, Poland