The Many Faces of Surveillance: Ethical Considerations That Encompass the Use of Electronic Monitoring in Criminal and Clinical Populations

Abstract

This chapter discusses ethical issues arising from the use of electronic monitoring (‘tagging’) in criminal and forensic psychiatry populations.

It provides a concise background to the use of electronic monitoring—a form of surveillance used to monitor a person that is considered at increased risk of reoffending. It describes how the technology used has evolved over time, the newer technology being supposedly more reliable.

Challenges in the application of electronic monitoring are covered, as is a detailed discussion about whether electronic tagging provides a cost-effective alternative to custody for some offenders and the opportunity for early release from custody or early discharge for forensic psychiatry populations, with all the benefits that this entails (family life, employment, reintegration to community, reduction of crime).

In this chapter, more importantly, issues around consent, coercion, rationale, stigmatisation and the impact on trust and therapeutic relationships are discussed. Ethical considerations that focus on the clinical decision to use electronic monitoring in forensic psychiatry populations (considering duty of care and the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, respect for privacy and respect of justice) are presented alongside societal and cost considerations.