Electronic monitoring set for more trials

Electronic monitoring bracelets have to stay on all the time Keystone

Several Swiss cantons have been strapping convicted criminals with electronic monitoring devices – and the practice has yielded positive results, they say.

But enthusiasm for the little black boxes – already used in some European countries and touted to be a cheaper alternative to incarceration – is not universal.

In Switzerland, the government has said it is not convinced that expanding the alternative sentencing option beyond its trial phase is a good idea for now. The cantons remain divided.

“Our experiences with electronic monitoring have been entirely positive,” Marianne Isenschmid, joint head of the probation and alternative sentencing service for canton Bern, told swissinfo. Bern is one of seven cantons to have tried the system.

Electronic monitoring is more effective than prison time or community service, Isenschmid believes, and criminals are not getting off lightly.

“It is quite clear that electronic monitoring is a punishment,” she said. “The bracelet is always attached to the ankle. Electronic monitoring places high demands on the discipline of the person tagged. They have to keep a constant eye on the clock.”

If the offender does not stick precisely to a pre-arranged schedule, the device sends an alarm, she says.

Changing situations

In contrast to imprisonment and to the practice of semi-detention – where those convicted of less serious crimes are free during the day but report to jail on evenings and weekends – electronic monitoring provides a great deal of structure without completely uprooting a person’s life.

This can help develop organisational skills, change bad habits and it cuts it the risk of reoffending, according to Isenschmid. With electronic monitoring, a person who might ordinarily spend evenings drinking in a bar would instead be forced to find something productive to do at home, she says.

“Electronic monitoring gives people a great opportunity to change their situation,” she said.

Despite the positive experience of the cantons that have used the system, a recent survey conducted by the Federal Justice Office found that most cantons are opposed to introducing electronic tagging alongside prison sentences, community service and fines.

Reasons for this opposition vary. Canton Schwyz, for example, thinks it is too complex; canton Zug points out that many legal experts have queried whether it is really a punishment, and canton St Gallen objects that laws have only just been amended and a further amendment is pointless.

The federal government is also not convinced. In December it decided against adding electronic monitoriing to the penal code. The code was amended as recently as the beginning of 2007 and provides for fines or community service for the kind of offence that might otherwise be punished by tagging.

The resistance of the cantons shows that the time is not yet ripe to add electronic monitoring definitively to the list of punishments in the penal code, Bernardo Stadelmann , of the Criminal Law division of the Justice Office told swissinfo.

Future uncertain

“If electronic monitoring is not enshrined in law as a major sanction or as part of the penal system, there will be a gap,” said Marianne Isenschmid.

“All of Europe is moving towards electronic monitoring. It would be unfortunate if Switzerland were to abandon this measure despite its positive experiences and know-how.”

For those who prefer ankle straps to striped uniforms, the future remains uncertain. At the end of 2007, the Swiss government extended the pilot schemes for the third time and will now make a final decision in 2009.

swissinfo, based on a German article by Corinne Buchser

The Swiss programme

In order for a person to be eligible for electronic monitoring, he or she must have a job, housing and a telephone, and must pay SFr20 ($18 per day).

The transmitter is attached onto the ankle with a secure band. It is updated weekly with a schedule that its owner must follow.

The trade-off for staying out of prison is a loss of some privacy. Authorities know when the wearer is at home, at work or running errands.

More than 2,000 people have been strapped with ankle bracelets in Switzerland since their trial introduction in 1999.

The cantons that have been trying them out are Bern, Geneva, Solothurn, Ticino, Vaud and the two half cantons of Basel City and Basel Country.

In the US and Europe

Electronic bracelets were introduced in the US in 1980 to relieve overcrowding in prisons. Today, over 100,000 convicted criminals are fitted with the devices.

Since 2007, the US has been using a new type of monitor that senses a person’s blood alcohol level. This tool has been reported to reduce rates in drunk driving.

The first European country to introduce electronic monitoring was Britain. It now has 30,000 devices in use. Other countries to have implemented monitoring on a nationwide basis include Sweden and the Netherlands.

In Britain, police are using electronic monitoring to confine football hooligans during games.

Last year’s fashion statement? Several poorly behaved celebrities were spotted wearing ankle bands in 2007, and more bizarrely, German fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld even strapped the device onto one of his models for a show last year.