Digital justice: A rapid evidence assessment of the use of mobile technology for offender behavioural change
| Author | Helen Taylor,Dirk Van Rooy,Lorana Bartels |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02645505211065694 |
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Digital justice: A rapid
evidence assessment of
the use of mobile
technology for offender
behavioural change
Helen Taylor , Dirk Van Rooy,
and Lorana Bartels
Australian National University, Australia
Abstract
The increasing availability and use of mobile technology have allowed for innovative
solutions to address a range of issues, especially in relation to health behaviour
change. Such technological advances have also created opportunities within the just-
ice context and the past decade has seen the development and use of mobile technol-
ogy in the criminal justice system. Yet, little systematic research exists in this area. This
study begins to fill this gap, through a rapid evidence assessment of the use of tech-
nologies, especially mobile applications and text message reminders, which support
behaviour change amongst people in the criminal justice system.
Keywords
desistance, community orders, corrections, evidence based practice, offender man-
agement, probation, supervision
Introduction
In May 2021, there were 3.48 million different mobile applications (apps) available
on Google Play and 2.23 million available on Apple devices (Statista, 2021a). An
app in this context refers to an application, a type of software that can be installed
Corresponding Author:
Helen Taylor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University, Ellery Crescent,
Acton Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 0200 Australia.
Email: h.taylor@anu.edu.au
Article The Journal of Communit
y
and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2023, Vol. 70(1) 31–51
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/02645505211065694
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
and run on a computer, tablet, smartphone or other electronic devices. By January
2021, 96% of people in Northern Europe and 93% of the Western Europe popula-
tion had Internet access. Globally, the proportion of people with Internet access
increased by 7% from 2020 to 2021 (Statista, 2021b).
Against this background, the past decade has seen the development, and
increase in the use, of apps in a justice context. Although the use of such ‘justice
apps’has increased, there is currently little systematic research around their devel-
opment, accessibility or effectiveness. The majority of such apps have been
focused on dispute resolution, or are educational or supportive, by providing free
access to legal information (Sourdin et al., 2020).
Within the context of justice apps, Sourdin et al. (2020), have developed a tax-
onomy that describes how technology in general is reshaping justice systems and
argued that
technology can assist to inform, support, and advise people involved in justice activities
(what they call “supportive technologies”). Second, technology can replace activities
and functions that were previously carried out by humans (“replacement technologies”).
Finally, at a third level, technology can provide for very different forms of justice, par-
ticularly where processes change significantly (“disruptive technologies”). Justice apps
can fall within any of these three categories (2020: 2).
This paper presents a rapid evidence assessment of supportive technologies that
aim to promote behaviour change amongst people involved in the criminal justice
system on bail, probation, parole, and other community-based orders. In particular,
we examine the use of apps and mobile technology in this context. The paper first
gives a brief overview of research into justice apps more broadly. It then provides
a discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of much of the research and develop-
ment into the use of mobile technology to facilitate behaviour change, by examining
key behavioural economics concepts. The scope and methodology for the review
are then outlined. The next section provides a review of the identified literature,
focusing on two types of mobile technology –the use of text message reminders
and mobile apps designed to facilitate behaviour change. A brief discussion of
some key features of identified apps is then outlined before we present the limitations
of the study, and concluding remarks.
App research
Most research into apps occurs in the context of (mental) health apps and behav-
ioural interventions (Kao and Liebovitz, 2017). As part of this systematic review,
we highlight several general insights from that literature that determine the uptake,
usage and success of apps, which would apply to justice apps as well.
Despite the wide application of apps in medical research, Kao and Liebovitz
(2017) noted the ongoing debate around their efficacy. Although the actual effect-
iveness of medical apps is of no direct relevance for our current purpose, the litera-
ture does provide indications as to the general characteristics of successful apps. For
32 Probation Journal 70(1)
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