9.6: House Arrest
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House arrest is where an individual is remanded to stay home for confinement, in order to serve a punishment, in lieu of jail or prison. There are built-in provisions where individuals are permitted to attend places of worship, places of employment, and places for food. Otherwise, individuals are expected to be home. It is difficult to assess how many are on house arrest at any given time, as these are often short stents given during early stages of probation.
As mentioned above, house arrest is often joined with electronic monitoring. Many of the studies incorporate both sanctions at the same time. Given the difficulty in separating EM from house arrest in studies, less is known about the independent effects of house arrest. However, it is certainly a cost saving mechanism, over other forms of sanctions. There is a relatively no-cost to low-cost for house arrest, not coupled with electronic monitoring, especially when comparing house arrest to intensive supervised probation. In all, house arrest would probably best serve individuals with low criminogenic risks and needs. However, it is also argued that those individuals need little sanctions already, in order to be successful. Thus, the utility of house arrest is debatable.