ABSTRACT
Sweden was one of the first countries in Europe to introduce electronic monitoring (EM) within the criminal justice system, as a ‘front door’ scheme – part of a strategy to find credible alternatives to shorter prison sentences. Intensive supervision with electronic monitoring (ISEM) was piloted in 1994 in six probation districts, extended after two years to cover the whole of Sweden, and became a permanent part of the Swedish Penalty Code in 1999. The main aim was to create a solid alternative to prison that could satisfy criminal justice requirements without resulting in the negative consequences associated with imprisonment; a secondary motivation was to reduce the costs of imprisonment. The target group of the scheme were offenders sentenced to a maximum of three months’ imprisonment, who could apply to serve their prison sentence by means of ISEM rather than entering custody (Brottsförebyggande rådet 1999a). It was considered vital to avoid using EM in isolation merely as a form of house arrest, as it had been in the United States, and as it was in England and Wales. For that reason it was linked from the start to a treatment programme, which meant specific conditions: no use of alcohol or drugs; a motivational programme arranged by the Probation Service; and intensive control, both personal and electronic. A further basic requirements was also an approved form of employment. It was the close link between EM and treatment programmes organized by the probation service that made the scheme one of ‘intensive supervision’ (Whitfield 1997).
