Understanding the experience of italian home detention: the presentation of a qualitative investigation in Naples

• In Event: International Perspectives in community sanctions and measures

Abstract

This contribution examines the experiences of individuals under home detention through a qualitative methodology. In the last fifteen years, Italian legislators have consistently sought to expand access to alternative sentencing measures to mitigate the issue of prison overcrowding. Italy's probation system has entered a new phase, characterized not only by a quantitative increase in the number of beneficiaries but also by a profound qualitative shift. Similarly, in Italy and the rest of Europe, the rise in the number of beneficiaries appears to have generated a "net widening" effect, as it has not reduced the growth of the prison population. In this context, the use of home detention becomes emblematic: it represents the measure with the least rehabilitative content and the most evident deflationary impact on the penal system. The home detention is now assigned to approximately one-third of those in the probation system. In Italian sociological and criminological research on probation, the area of home detention is still relatively unexplored. This study aims to explore the needs, the pains, and the prescriptions related to the condition of home detention beneficiaries, in order to provide reflections and empirical evidence that can contribute to the knowledge of professionals and scholars operating in this field. This exploratory study analyzes the perception of home detainees regarding certain challenging aspects of the measure.
through a series of in-depth interviews. This contribution will present the results of an investigation conducted on a sample of home detainees monitored by the probation agencies of Naples and other provinces in the Campania region (25 subjects). The sample is heterogeneous in terms of various socio-demographic variables (gender, education level, job, and family situation) and legal variables (coming from freedom or detention, use of electronic monitoring bracelet, type of offense, type of prescriptions).

Author

• Andrea Procaccini, University of Naples “Federico II"