House Arrest

It is a form of intermediate sanction that requires that the convicted offender spends a designated amount of time per week in his or her own home. House arrest initiatives can vary in administration, client services, and goals. Some are administered by probation departments, while others are simply juridical sentences monitored by surveillance officers. Some impose 24-hour confinement, whileothers allow offenders to attend work or school.
House arrest, also known as electronic monitoring or home detention, is the legal term used to define a penalty imposed by law to a person who committed a crime and is condemned to stay inside his house. Home arrest is an alternative to jail time, often used for minor crimes or for teenagers who cannot be taken to an adult correctional facility. Housearrest is also an option in places where the cost of maintaining a prisoner has escalated to a point where the government cannot longer sustain additional inmates. In any case, only minor offenses can be punished with house arrest, as major crimes always require jail time.
People confined to house arrest wear an ankle monitor, a special electronic device that transmits a GPS signal to a basehandset. This handset is connected to police central headquarters, and notifies the authorities automatically if the wearer moves outside of his allowed range. House arrest may or may not include backyards or gardens, depending on the arrangements made by the authorities. House arrest may also allow for "breaks," where prisoners are allowed to attend certain activities or places, such as regularvisits to the doctor or to a local grocery store. In those cases, the ankle monitor is disconnected temporarily or reprogrammed so it allows the wearer to move a certain distance without breaking the rules.
Many former presidents have been confined to house arrest for crimes against their countries, including Ahmed Ben Bella (Algeria), Rafael Videla (Argentina), Pol Pot (Cambodia), Shehu Shagari(Nigeria), and Habib Bourguiba (Tunisia). In the United States, house arrest is sometimes imposed after people have been released from prison. Martha Stewart spent five months in house arrest after spending a year in prison.
House arrest is sometimes criticized because it seems to offer an easy way out to punishment. People under house arrest have access to all comforts of home life, including useof appliances, telephone, and Internet. It also allows them to continue a rather normal life. Critics argue that most people under house arrest will quickly forget that they are being punished, which in turn will negate the benefits of the program. No definitive data indicates that house arrest is an effective crime deterrent, nor is there sufficient evidence to conclude that nearly 10 percent ofthe house arrest sample had their probation revoked for technical violations within 18 months of their sentencing. Another found that recidivism rates were almost identical to those of a matched sample of inmates released from secure correctional facilities; four out five offenders in both forms of corrections recidivated within five years. Although these findings are troublesome, the advantageof house arrest is reducing cost and overcrowding in the correctional system probably makes further experimentation inevitable.

Electronic Monitoring
For house arrest to work, sentencing authorities must be assured that the arrestees are actually at home during their assigned times. Requiring convicted offenders to wear a monitoring device as part of their community sentence. Typically part ofa house arrest order, this enables the probation department to ensure that offenders are complying with court-ordered limitations on their freedom.
There are some indications that EM can be an effective addition to the roster of intermediate sanctions and provide the judiciary with an enhance supervision tools. EM can be used as a part of a pretrial diversionary program, probation, or as a...