Literature review on intensive supervision orders: A report prepared for the ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate

This report presents a literature review in relation to intensive supervision orders (variously defined) in six countries, as follows: • Intensive Supervision Orders in New Zealand; • Conditional Sentences of Imprisonment in Canada; • Various forms of Intensive Supervision Probation in the United States; • Intensive Alternatives to Custody in England/Wales; • Intensive Supervision with Electronic Monitoring in Sweden; and • Correctional Supervision in South Africa.

Each section presents an overview of the sentencing option, including the conditions to which it is subject (eg, electronic monitoring, substance abuse treatment, curfews, community service) and whether these are imposed on a mandatory or optional basis. Information on limits on the availability of the option (eg, by sentence length or offence type) is also considered.

The report then presents evidence on the ‘effectiveness’ of each sentencing option. Due to the variety of information available, evidence of effectiveness is considered to include: • data on the use of the order, including the conditions imposed, and any impacts on the use of imprisonment; • reconviction and breach analyses; • cost-benefit analyses; • evidence of decreases in anti-social behaviour (eg, drug use) and/or increases in prosocial behaviour (eg, engagement with employment); and • research on the attitudes of a range of stakeholders, including offenders, victims, correctional officers, judicial officers and members of the public.

The report presents a brief description of the electronic monitoring technology used, before examining the evidence on cost-effectiveness, reductions in reoffending and the perceptions of offenders and others affected by electronic monitoring, especially victims and those living with the offender.

This section then explores some of the key practical and ethical challenges that may arise from this technology, including: workload implications; false reports; risk to the public; the challenges of involving the private sector in the delivery of community corrections; the risk of net-widening; and the offender’s loss of privacy and risk of stigmatisation. The limitations of the research are acknowledged and future directions in research, technological advances and good practice principles are considered.

The report concludes with summary of key findings and some observations on future directions.