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Can Electronic Monitoring Reduce Reoffending?

Author

Listed:
  • Jenny Williams

    (University of Melbourne and IZA)

  • Don Weatherburn

    (University of New South Wales)

Abstract

We evaluate electronic monitoring as an alternative to prison for nonviolent offenses. Leveraging plausibly exogenous variation in sentencing outcomes generated by quasi-random assignment of judges, we find electronic monitoring reduces reoffending at both extensive and intensive margins. Compared with prison, electronic monitoring is estimated to reduce the probability of reoffending by 22 percentage points five years after sentencing and by 11 percentage points ten years after sentencing, with the cumulative number of offenses reduced by 40% ten years after sentencing. These results demonstrate that electronic monitoring has sustained crime-reducing effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenny Williams & Don Weatherburn, 2022. "Can Electronic Monitoring Reduce Reoffending?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(2), pages 232-245, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:104:y:2022:i:2:p:232-245
    DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00954
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    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Daniele Terlizzese, 2022. "Leave the Door Open? Prison Conditions and Recidivism," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 200-233, October.
    2. Brendon McConnell, 2022. "Racial Sentencing Disparities and Differential Progression Through the Criminal Justice System: Evidence From Linked Federal and State Court Data," Papers 2203.14282, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2022.
    3. Eric Chyn & Brigham Frandsen & Emily Leslie, 2025. "Examiner and Judge Designs in Economics: A Practitioner's Guide," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 401-439, June.
    4. Al Weswasi, Enes, 2025. "Effect of early prison release with electronic monitoring," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    5. Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Daniele Terlizzese, 2021. "Cash: Leave the Door Open? Prison Conditions and Recidivism," EIEF Working Papers Series 2111, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Jun 2021.
    6. Alexeev, Sergey & Weatherburn, Don, 2022. "Fines for illicit drug use do not prevent future crime: evidence from randomly assigned judges," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 555-575.
    7. William Arbour & Steeve Marchand, 2022. "Parole, Recidivism, and the Role of Supervised Transition," Working Papers tecipa-725, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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