The project used a mixed method approach including: an extensive law and policy review alongside observations of aspects of the EM systems; 70 interviews with policy-makers and practitioners involved in the provision of EM; administrative data on cases in which EM had been used with children; and four interviews with children subject to EM. The research also included 12 focus groups with 60 school children to gauge their views and experiences of EM.
This project provides a comprehensive picture of the law and policy, which regulates the use of EM with children and how EM operates in practice in the three jurisdictions. The research found that two EM technologies are used in the three jurisdictions: radio-frequency (RF) and GPS technologies. Both technologies were available in England and Wales and the Netherlands, while the Hungarian system relies solely on GPS. The three EM systems represent three distinct institutional models: the control model (Hungary), the due process model (England and Wales) and the rehabilitation model (Netherlands). These models reflect the legal and regulatory context in which EM operates as well as the dominant approach of professionals to assessment, support and supervision of children on EM. EM law, policy and practice are embedded within, and interconnected with, the youth justice system. A youth justice system which reflects a children’s rights approach as found in the Netherlands also has a child-orientated approach to EM. By contrast, a lack of awareness of children’s special status limits the measures put in place to ensure the child-friendly use of EM in Hungary, which operates in the same way as it does for adults. However, notable differences existed both between and within jurisdictions in the extent to which they aim to limit the use of EM with children, guarantee their participatory rights and assess their needs when considering their best interests. The findings provide important clues to how EM may be used to reduce measures, which deprive children of their liberty pre- and post-conviction in ways which respect children’s rights.
