Berg Insight, the leading IoT market research provider, today released new findings about the market for Electronic Monitoring (EM) of offenders.
The number of participants in EM programmes on a daily basis in Europe, North America and Latin America amounted to about 50,000, 371,000 and 96,000 respectively during 2021. Berg Insight estimates that the number of daily users will grow to 77,000 in Europe, 821,000 in North America and 184,000 in Latin America by 2026. The market value in 2021 reached US$ 947 million in North America, US$ 224 million in Europe and US$ 75 million in Latin America. The total market value in the three regions combined is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 10.8 percent from US$ 1.2 billion in 2021 to US$ 2.1 billion in 2026.
Electronic monitoring (EM) programmes were first introduced in the US in the early 1980s. Today, EM is an established alternative to detention across Europe and North America and in some Latin American countries. The aim of EM programmes is to increase offender accountability, reduce recidivism rates and enhance public safety by providing an additional tool to traditional methods of community supervision. Policy makers, corrections authorities and private sector service providers advocate for extended EM programmes to reduce total correctional system costs and reduce the prison population.
There are two dominant technologies used for electronic monitoring – Radio Frequency (RF) and GPS. RF-based systems are today the most common type of solution in most European countries. In the US, Brazil and other countries in Latin America, GPS-based solutions are more common. A number of private companies are involved in the provisioning of EM, including supplying and installing equipment, providing monitoring as well as undertaking enforcement. Leading providers of EM equipment and services include US-based BI Inc. (GEO Group), Sentinel Offender Services, SCRAM Systems, Securus Technologies, Shadowtrack and Track Group; UK-based Buddi and G4S (Allied Universal); Israel-based Attenti (Allied Universal) and SuperCom; and Brazil-based Spacecom and Synergye.
“The electronic offender monitoring market continues to grow, partly driven by increasing adoption of GPS-based and smartphone-based solutions”, says Martin Backman, Senior Analyst at Berg Insight.
As the technology develops and proves to be effective in programmes in Europe, North America and Latin America, adoption will follow in additional jurisdictions. Software solutions that help officers to better manage their caseload are at the same time an increasingly important part of an EM solution.
Mr. Backman concludes:
“Modern data analytics tools can identify offender behavioural patterns and possibly also predict future EM programme violations or other offences.”
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