ABSTRACT
This chapter compares the re-incarceration of prisoners under electronic monitoring (EM) and prisoners in 'ordinary' detention. It also compares differences in re-incarceration, again a direct consequence of data available in Belgium. Re-incarceration differs from reconviction and recidivism in important respects. Criminological theories differ in their expectations about recidivism depending on the importance they ascribe to the pains of imprisonment, and more generally, the negative consequences of imprisonment for the prisoner in the process of recidivism. The method of propensity score matching allows a more methodologically refined comparison of the re-incarceration of prisoners having served most of their sentence under EM versus those who spent their sentence behind bars. The chapter focuses on the question of whether a difference exists in the re-incarceration of offenders convicted to a prison sentence of six months up to three years who have served their sentence for at least 90 per cent under EM and a comparison group that served their sentence in prison.
