Legal void leads to 50% decrease in electronic tagging

Legal void leads to 50% decrease in electronic tagging

The number of suspects tagged with a GPS system in Belgium was cut in half between January and March 2015, going from 123 in January to 112 by mid-February and 62 a month later. The reason is a decree by the court of cassation last February, which called the new law in place since January 1st, 2014 and establishing this novel form of arrest, somewhat vague, revealed Le Soir on Wednesday. It is not the electronic tagging itself which is doubtful but its use to replace custody between the end of an investigation and a court hearing.

More generally however, if we take into account the number of prisoners serving their sentence under electronic supervision, electronic tagging is going strong: it concerned 326 prisoners in 2006, 928 in 2010, 1,071 in 2013, and 1,891 last March.  This is one of the highest “rates” in Europe.

(Source: Belga)  


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