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Is Electronic Monitoring More Effective than Community Service? Results of a Randomized Trial. Gwladys Gilliéron Izumi Kissling Martin Killias University of Zurich. Methodology. Randomised controlled trial comparing electronic monitoring (EM) with community service (CS)
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Is Electronic Monitoring More Effective than Community Service?Results of a Randomized Trial Gwladys Gilliéron Izumi Kissling Martin Killias University of Zurich
Methodology • Randomised controlled trial comparing electronic monitoring (EM) with community service (CS) • Random assignation of 240 subjects between June 2000 and December 2002 to CS (120) or EM (120)
Collected data • Re-offending: Criminal records • Social integration: data from the Internal Revenue Service
Procedure • Different reference dates: • Day of random assignment to EM or CS • Beginning of execution • End of execution • Period of observation: • 3 resp. 4 years before and after reference date • p-value of .10 as threshold for significance
Incidence of pre- and post-assignment criminal records *Mann-Whitney Test ° = (t-4)-(t+4) ° = (t-3)-(t+3) °°= ((t-4)-(t+4))/(t-4) °°= ((t-3)-(t+3))/(t-3)
Results: Criminal records • Choice of reference date has little influence on results • Period of observation (3 vs. 4 years) has little impact on results, but more significant results after 3 years (more subjects) • Re-offending decreases in both groups • Less re-offending after EM (overall, 5 comparisons out of 12 are significant at p<.10))
Social integration • Procedure • Files of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the Canton of Vaud • Records include data on income, faculty/debts, welfare benefits and other financial information, on social background (marriage, separation, divorce, number of children)
Tax payers‘ recordSubjects from the two groups located in the IRS of the Canton Vaud (N=183) (year searched: 2004) • Tax declaration 2004: • EM: 80% (N=64) • CS: 73.3% (N=66)
Marriage status among EM and CS subjects in 2004 (N=130, one person without indication)
Summary • Differences between EM and CS on reconvictions favour consistently EM • Overall, 5 comparisons on re-offending out of 12 are significant (p<.10) • Few significant differences between EM and CS on social integration • More subjects got married after EM • Financial status is better after EM • No differences regarding employment history • Undetermined: is EM more effective, or is there a placebo effect at work?