Book Review: Electronic Monitoring: Tagging Offenders in a Culture of Surveillance
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/02645505221082837a |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Author | Hannah Graham |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Electronic Monitoring: Tagging Offenders in a Culture of
Surveillance
Tom Daems; Palgrave Macmillan; 2020, pp. 86; £44.99; hbk
ISBN: 978-3-030-34038-4
Reviewed by: Dr Hannah Graham, Senior Lecturer in Criminology,
University of Stirling.
There are not enough books on electronic monitoring (EM) technologies and their
uses in probation and prison contexts, so this is a welcome contribution. It is not
necessarily the case that there is a salient need for more books preoccupied with
the what of technology, so much as there is a need for more books which explore
how,why, by whom/for whom, and to what effects and consequences. In this
book, criminal justice and penology are more central than the specifics of technol-
ogy –and that is a good thing. Clear explanations of EM technologies are provided
to ensure readers have a decent understanding of what is being discussed, but tech-
nical jargon is kept to a minimum. As an introduction, Chapter 1 explores the history
and development of electronic monitoring as part of contemporary cultures of surveil-
lance, setting the scene and contextualising the issues that follow.
Inspired by the scholarship and unorthodox style of eminent Dutch criminologist,
Willem Nagel, in his writing on the functions of imprisonment [De funkties van de
vrijheidstraf (1977)], Daems’book uses that style as a heuristic to consider 22 func-
tions of electronic monitoring, in alphabetical order in Chapters 2 (A-H) and 3 (I-W).
There is some overlap and interconnectedness of the functions. A is for automation.
C is for crime control –and thorny issues of predictivity, artificial intelligence, and
uses of EM in policing. D is for decarceration. Following this is degradation, explor-
ing how tagging can stigmatise and degrade, positioning such issues in tension with
human rights and dignity, as well as the Council of Europe recommendation (2014:
rule 27): ‘Under no circumstances may electronic monitoring equipment be used to
cause intentional physical or mental harm or suffering to a suspect or an offender’.
This book considers the issues and their complexity with a clear sightedness
and intellectual rigour. Daems is not beholden to techno-utopian views of
borderline-evangelistic proponents of EM, neither to bureaucratic rationalities
about EM by governments hopeful of fixing systemic penal problems, nor is he acqui-
escent to polemics and ideologies of vociferous critics of EM. Electronic Monitoring:
Tagging Offenders in a Culture of Surveillance considers diverse perspectives on
multifaceted issues, seeking to ‘defamiliarise’and problematise taken-for-granted
understandings.
Daems is multi-lingual and incredibly well read, demonstrating a capacity for
synthesising theoretical insights and international literatures into this short book in
a way that is accessible and engaging. The introduction and conclusion are a micro-
cosm of this. Various practical examples from Belgium and other nations are given
(and in some cases, translated into English) throughout the book. As someone who
has been part of doing European comparative research on EM and informing law
Book reviews 117
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