Electronic Monitoring in Europe - Conference in Brussels, Belgium

Electronic Monitoring in Europe – 18th February 2016, Brussels

The conference provided an opportunity to hear about, and engage with, the findings of the European Commission funded project entitled ‘Creativity and Effectiveness in the use electronic monitoring (EM) as an alternative to imprisonment in EU member states’. The research was carried out in five jurisdictions (Belgium, England & Wales, Germany, the Netherlands and Scotland) providing up-to-date analysis of current and future uses of EM in each jurisdiction as well as insights gained from the first comparative EM research in the EU.

The aim of the conference was to discuss the findings of the research and inform recommendations on best practice to enhance effectiveness of electronic monitoring whilst ensuring its legal, ethical and humane use across the EU.

The Conference on Electronic Monitoring in Europe took place in Brussels on 18th February 2016 at the International Associations Centre (Maison des Associations Internationales), rue Washington 40, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.

The language spoken at the conference was English. Simultaneous translation in French and Dutch was provided during the event.

Those who cannot attend the Conference are welcomed to attend the Conference on Electronic Monitoring in Europe: UK and European Perspectives held in London on 17th March 2016.

Location Details

The Workshop took place at Maison des Associations Internationales, 40 rue Washington 1050, Brussels, Belgium. Information on how to get to the venue can be found here.

You can also find further information on the venue website: http://mai.be/?q=node/62&lang=en

Target Audience

The conference was useful for individuals with responsibility for and/or an interest in electronic monitoring including:

• European and government officials
• Criminal justice policy-makers
• Prison managers and staff
• Probation managers and staff
• Police
• Judiciary
• Electronic monitoring equipment and service providers
• Academics and researchers
• Postgraduate researchers and students

Download speaker biographies in English.

Jesca Beneder

Jesca Beneder studied Dutch and EU law at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, and the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. After having worked as a lawyer in international law firms in Amsterdam and Brussels, the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg and as a Judge at the Court of Maastricht, she currently works at the Criminal Procedural Law Unit of DG Justice of the European Commission. In that capacity, she is responsible for all questions related to Detention (Framework Decisions on the Transfer of Prisoners, Probation and Alternative Sanctions and the European Supervision Order, pre-trial detention and material detention conditions in the Member States). She has also been working on the European arrest warrant (EAW) and since recently she is involved with the issue of foreign fighters in the context of radicalisation in prisons and the criminal justice response to radicalisation leading to terrorism and violent extremism.

Kristel Beyens

Kristel Beyens is Full Professor of Penology and Criminology at the Department of Criminology of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University Brussels, Belgium). Her research focuses on contemporary evolutions in punishment with special attention for penal decision-making and the implementation of prison sentences and community punishment in a cultural, organizational and social context.

Within the research group Crime & Society (CRiS) she coordinates the research line Penality & Society. Currently she is leading research projects on electronic monitoring and the monitoring officer, early release in Belgium and the Netherlands, recall and breach decision-making, food practices in prison, the impact of the use of new technologies on prison life, the prison governor and crimmigration in prison. Kristel Beyens is co-chair of the COST Action on ‘Offender Supervision in Europe’ (http://www.offendersupervision.eu).

See also: http://www.crisresearchgroup.be/in-dex.php/members/prof-dr-beyens

Miranda Boone

Miranda Boone is a Professor in Penitentiary Law and Penology at University Groningen Senior Lecturer Criminal Law and Criminology at Utrecht University. She is a criminologist and a criminal lawyer carrying out research at the interface of criminology and criminal law. She is particularly interested in the decision-making process with regard to the application of sentences from a normative and a social science perspective. She has conducted empirical research in the field of probation, prisons and the courts. Miranda has recently co-published a textbook on the relation between criminology and criminal law (Boone & Brants 2013), a report on the experiences of Belgian prisoners and Dutch staff in the Tilburg Penitentiary Institution (Beyens & Boone 2013), a book chapter on decision-making in offender-supervision (Boone & Herzog-Evans 2013) and a report on supervising sex offenders in the community paper (Boone, Van de Bunt & Siegel 2014).
Electronic Monitoring (EM) in Europe

Andy Bruce

Andy Bruce is Deputy Director for Community Justice at the Scottish Government. His previous posts in the Scottish Government have included jobs working on public health, health inequalities and social work services. Prior to joining the Scottish Government, Andy spent 5 years working for the Ministry of Defence in London and Cyprus, before moving to Edinburgh in 2005 to take up a secondment with a schools-based charity delivering an alternative curriculum to young people.

Pedro Ferreira Marum

Pedro is Deputy General Director of House of Justice department. He is responsible for the General Department Justice and Citizen. Federation Wallonia-Brussels.
Pedro is a criminologist and scientific collaborator from the University of Liège. Pedro has worked in the field of penal measures and sentences as an alternative to prison for almost 20 years. He started his career creating and working in a community service orders institution financed by the Ministry of Justice and shared by municipalities. After 9 years he began working directly for the Ministry of Justice, focusing on working towards effective alternatives to imprisonment.

In 2008, Pedro joined the National Centre of Electronic Monitoring, part of the Ministry of Justice as the Head. Since 2015, Pedro is the Director of the General Department Justice and Citizen. He oversees four services including the Centre for Electronic Monitoring.

Hannah Graham

Dr Hannah Graham is a Lecturer in Criminology in the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) at the University of Stirling, UK. She is the author of three books published internationally by Routledge: Rehabilitation Work: Supporting Desistance and Recovery (2016) and two books co-authored with Rob White, Innovative Justice (2015) and Working with Offenders: A Guide to Concepts and Practices (2010). Prior to moving to Scotland, Hannah lectured in Criminology and Sociology at the University of Tasmania in Australia. Email: [email protected] and Twitter @DrHannahGraham

Anthea Hucklesby

Professor Anthea Hucklesby is Professor of Criminal Justice at the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, School of Law and Pro-Dean for Research and Innovation at the University of Leeds, UK. She has undertaken research and published in a range of areas in the criminal justice process including electronic monitoring, police and court bail, drug misuse in prison, pre-trial drugs intervention, prisoners’ resettlement, community sentences and private and third sector involvement in criminal justice. She is currently leading a European Commission Directorate of Justice funded project on ‘Creativity and effectiveness in the use of electronic monitoring as an alternative to imprisonment in EU member states’ (JUST/2013/JPEN/AG/4510). Her recent books include: A. Hucklesby and E. Wincup, (eds) (2010) Drug Interventions in Criminal Justice, Open University Press; A. Hucklesby (2011) Bail Support Schemes for Adults, Policy Press, A. Crawford and A. Hucklesby (eds) (2013) Legitimacy and Compliance in Criminal Justice, Routledge and A. Hucklesby and M. Corcoran (eds) (2015) The Voluntary Sector and Criminal Justice. She has also published a trio of articles on electronic monitoring: A. Hucklesby, (2008) ‘Vehicles of Desistance: the impact of electronically monitored curfew orders’, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 8(1): 51-71; A. Hucklesby (2009) ‘Understanding offenders’ compliance: a case study of electronically monitored curfew orders’, Journal of Law and Society, 36(2): 248-71 and A. Hucklesby (2011) ‘The Nightlife of Electronic Monitoring Officers’, Criminal Justice, 11(1): 1-18 and contributed a chapter on ‘Insiders’ Views of Electronically Monitored Curfew Orders’ in M. Nellis, K. Beyens and D. Kaminski (eds) (2012) Electronically Monitored Punishment: International and Critical Perspectives, Routledge. She is currently editing a companion volume to the Voluntary Sector and Criminal Justice on the Private Sector and Criminal Justice with Stuart Lister which is due to be published in 2016.

Mike Nellis

Mike Nellis is an Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Community Justice, The Centre for Law, Crime & Justice, Law School University of Strathclyde. Mike was formerly a social worker with young offenders in London, has a PhD from the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge, and was involved in the training of probation officers at the University of Birmingham. He has written widely on the fortunes of the probation service, alternatives to imprisonment and particularly the electronic monitoring of offenders, on which he is an acknowledged expert. In respect of the latter, he has been actively involved since 2005 in the planning of a series of European conferences on EM, and between 2011 and 2013 acted as one of two advisers to a Council of Europe Committee on Penal Affairs which drew up an ethical recommendation on EM, for circulation in the Council’s member countries. He teaches a Master’s degree course on surveillance, technology and criminal justice studies in the Strathclyde Law School. He has recently co-edited ‘Electronically Monitored Punishment: International and Critical Perspectives’, with Belgian colleagues Kristel Beyens and Dan Kaminski. He has recently become editor of the Journal of Offender Monitoring.

Adrian Scott

Adrian is currently the Director for the electronic monitoring programme for England and Wales. He is working with Ministers to establish the policy and strategic direction for the use of electronic monitoring and will be responsible for delivering the programme once the direction has been agreed.
Adrian has held a wide range of challenging and high profile roles. He was previously head of security for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) with oversight of extremism, serious and organised crime, intelligence, staff corruption and security policy across prisons and probation. He worked across Government including Cabinet Office, Home Office, the Security services and the Police on high profile critical policy and operational business. He delivered the Mercury electronic intelligence system across prisons. Previously, Adrian led a number of complex change programmes in challenging organisations, including the Prison Service, Ministry of Justice and Surrey Police. As Programme Director for the reorganisation of the National Offender Management Service he successfully delivered radical public sector reform in public sector prisons.

Michiel Van der Veen

Michiel van der Veen works as an independent consultant on the field of Electronic Monitoring and is a substitute judge in criminal court in the Netherlands (northern region). He holds a Law degree and Masters in Public Management. He started his career at the Public Prosecution Office and worked almost ten years at the Dutch probation Service. After that he continued his career at two consultancy firms where he was responsible for different projects in the judicial chain. His expertise on the field of Electronic Monitoring is focused on the development of (new) concepts, innovation and process design. In that area he has been working in different countries. In the Netherlands he has been working on the professionalization of EM in 2013-2015.