A Qualitative Assessment of the Pains Experienced on Electronic Monitoring

Abstract

In response to prison overcrowding, new methods for punishing offenders evolved in the early 1980s. Although on the surface these new methods may seem less punitive to some, studies show that many convicted offenders prefer jail or prison to many of the newer intermediate sanctions. However, these studies have relied primarily on the perceptions of prisoners to gauge the severity of the different punishments. The focus of this article is on the way 27 participants on electronic monitoring in the past year in Norfolk, Virginia, experienced pains of imprisonment similar to those described by Gresham Sykes in The Society of Captives. Results suggest that those on electronic monitoring experience the sanction in ways similar, yet qualitatively different, from those sentenced to jail or prison. Implications for research and policy are provided.