Electronic Monitoring and the Resocialisation Process: Experiences of People Under Intensive Supervision in Lithuania

• In Event: Technology and surveillance in community sanctions and measures

Abstract

Electronic offender monitoring is increasing in European criminal justice systems, especially in Eastern European countries (see Nikartas, 2020). In Lithuania, the number of individuals subject to electronic monitoring has significantly increased between 2015 and 2024 – from 251 to 3746 (Probation service, 2025). The existing legal framework provides the basis for the widespread use of EM. The implementation of electronic monitoring, especially when it is excessive and non-individualized—as studies indicate—may lead to negative social consequences such as stigmatization and social isolation (Payne & Gainey, 1998; Gelsthorpe et al., 2007; Durnescu, 2011) and thus may have a desocializing effect, which would contradict the objectives of probation. In order to understand how electronic monitoring affects the resocialization process of individuals and what social consequences it brings, a qualitative study was conducted. This paper will present the initial results of this qualitative study on the experiences of convicted persons under electronic monitoring. It will discuss how individuals and their relatives adapt to intensive supervision, the social consequences imposed by electronic monitoring, and how it affects the processes of social integration and resocialization. The study was carried out as part of the Lithuanian Research Council-funded project "Under Watch: Challenges and Prospects of Electronic Monitoring in the Context of Criminal Justice."

Author

• Simonas Nikartas, Vilnius University, Faculty of Philosophy