Home Detention With Electronic Monitoring: Comparing Pretrial and Postconviction Programs

• NCJ Number: 133348
• Journal: Crime and Delinquency Volume: 36 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1990) Pages: 521-536
• Author(s): M G Maxfield; T L Baumer
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 16 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-IJ-CX-0041; 89-IJ-CX-0025
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

A preliminary assessment of a nonexperimental evaluation of an electronically monitored home detention program designed for pretrial detainees is followed by a discussion of differences between this pretrial program and a program for convicted offenders.

Abstract

The two programs were delivered by the same agency in Marion County, Indiana with essentially the same technology, but the pretrial and postconviction programs differed in several ways: variations in clients; variations associated with program rationale; and differences in actual program operation. Both programs shared some problems in program delivery including limitations of the technology of electronic monitoring equipment. There often occurred a gap in the pretrial and postconviction programs between what clients were told to expect while on home detention and the limited capacity of staff to actually monitor them in the field. A fundamental problem in the pretrial program relates to the lack of any real power among program staff. It is unreasonable to expect that a postconviction program can be transferred directly to a pretrial population. 2 tables and 18 references