eBulletin, 26 May 2023
Our latest eBulletin, sent out to those on our mailing list on Friday, 26 May. Sign-up for our free eBulletins here.
Our latest eBulletin, sent out to those on our mailing list on Friday, 26 May. Sign-up for our free eBulletins here.
When I was appointed as EM Procurement Contract Manager in 2010, the Ministry of Justice’s commercial relationship with both G4S and Serco EM appeared to be one of mistrust.
As the Ministry of Justice’s Electronic Monitoring Procurement Contract Manager between 2010 and 2012, I gained insight into both management of the existing EM contract and plans for potential future arrangements.
Today’s report by the Public Accounts Committee paints an alarming picture of government failures in managing electronic monitoring (EM) services in criminal justice.
The Centre for Crime and Justice today called for the use of electronic monitoring (so-called “tagging”) as part of a criminal justice sanction to be based on proper evidence and guided by clear principles.
An electronic monitoring regulator should be established to ensure that intrusive monitoring technologies are only used when there are clear ethical and practical grounds for doing so.
The government’s avid enthusiasm for electronic monitoring in criminal justice is clear.
Seasoned observers of Ministry of Justice White Papers since 2010 could be forgiven for thinking that the latest one has been written by a singularly dim and unsophisticated algorithm.
A joint research project between CCJS and the Howard League for Penal Reform is now close to fruition.
Mass surveillance has been everybody’s idea of dystopia for a long time, at least since Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four.
At the forefront of this project are the issues of legitimacy and rights which should be addressed in the evaluation of any particular electronic monitoring (EM) system.
In a letter in today's Guardian, tagging expert Mike Nellis calls for the 'over-complex, outsourced infrastructure set in place to manage the mass expansion of GPS tracking' to be dismantled', to be replaced by 'a modest and sensible use of tagging.. properly integrated into a restored, publicly owned probation service, as it mostly is in mainland Europe'.
The Centre is currently working with Mike Nellis and partners across the penal reform sector to explore the possibilities for a progressive vision for the future of electronic monitoring. This followed a private...