Electronic Monitoring of Offenders in Slovakia: Influenced by the EU?

Abstract

This paper summarizes the context and aims of electronic monitoring (EM) of offenders in Slovakia and explores related influences, particularly support from the EU. Building on the results of a significant investigation of Slovak language, sources, the paper briefly reviews both the optimistic and more skeptical expectations of Slovak academic authors on achieving the objective of increasing the number of house arrests sentences. The reported results of the authors` own research from Eurostat and the World Prison Brief databases, suggest that the political decision to introduce EM of offenders in Slovakia can be justified. The paper concludes by summarizing the role of EU structural funds in financing the introduction and implementation of this program. The paper builds on and briefly reviews the published output from the research project ‘Interdisciplinary approach to EM of accused and convicted persons in the Slovak environment’ (IAEMPS).