Overview

In Europe, over 30,000 criminal offenders were electronically tagged in 2000, and over four times that number tagged elsewhere in the world. With over 20 countries now either starting new schemes or developing existing ones, these figures are expected to grow dramatically over the next few years - and the availability of satellite tracking and voice verification systems will also mean a wider variety of options as technology is increasingly used to supervise offenders. But how effective is it? Can it have any real impact on growing crime figures and on preventing offending, or does electronic tagging simply provide a short-term answer and an increasingly alienated criminal underclass? Is it just another 'quick fix' which will go the same way as so many penal initiatives? The Magic Bracelet is a global jigsaw of the very different ways in which new technology is being used, the known results to date and the lessons for criminal justice policy. Separate chapters cover the history and development of electronic tagging, experience in North America, the UK and Europe and elsewhere; operational issues, human and civil rights implications and future possibilities. It builds - quite substantially - on the author's previous writings in this field, including Tackling the Tag (Waterside Press, 1997).

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9781872870175

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Reviews

'Factual and lucidly written ... should be obligatory reading for politicians, administrators, practitioners and concerned members of the public':Norman Bishop, CEP-Bulletin'Comprehensive ... and authoritative - will appeal particularly to those who want a broader perspective':The Magistrate'Comprehensive and balanced - he does not shy away from the difficult arguments':Prison Report

Author Information

For many years, Dick Whitfield was chief probation officer for Kent and a prominent commentator on probation-related affairs. He is the author of three other Waterside Press works: Paying Back:Twenty Years of Community Service with David Scott, and Tackling the Tag: The Electronic Monitoring of Offenders, Introduction to the Probation Service - and also of The State of the Prisons: 200 Years On (Routledge, 1991).

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