The Electronic Monitoring of Serious Offenders: Is There a Rehabilitative Potential?

Many countries around the world now electronically monitor some convicted offenders to check the offenders’ compliance with court orders of different kinds. Although regarded as an intermediate penalty, to date electronic monitoring has not generally been employed for rehabilitative purposes. Electronic monitoring systems have evolved over time, however, and there is the possibility that future technologies and practices could embrace more rehabilitative goals. This article sketches out various currents of change within criminal justice, and suggests how future electronic monitoring schemes might instantiate an emergent ‘new rehabilitation’.