Increasing Compliance on Home Detention Based Sanctions through Utilisation of an Intensive Intervention Support Program

Over the past 25 years, Home Detention Based Sanctions (HDBS) have been among the most stringent community-based penalties in the Western sentencing hierarchy. While the uptake of these sanctions has traditionally been relatively slow, over the last decade cheaper, more reliable and practical technological developments (such as Radio Frequency (RF) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS)) are allowing the imposition and monitoring of diverse and restrictive conditions, and thus the use of these sanctions for sentencing relatively serious offenders. The increased application of HDBS and greater reliance on surveillance-oriented monitoring equipment will probably result in a further inflation of already high technical violation rates. This article challenges the traditional practice that those who formally breach their HDBS through technical violations are resentenced and, in most cases, incarcerated, as this has proved to be an unsustainably expensive and ineffective process. It is argued that, instead, all technical violators should be encouraged to undertake a community-based reformative initiative called the Intensive Intervention Support Program (IISP). This program operates on the basis of: first, uncovering the complex interplay of reason/s behind the detainees' lack of compliance; and second, implementing supportive strategies and/or specialised treatment/counselling sessions that enhance detainee's ability to subsequently complete the HDBS.