As one of the upcoming alternatives to prison sentences, the electronic monitoring of convicts at home is assumed to generate less harmful side-effects and to be more humane than imprisonment, while popular media and the public generally perceive it as unduly lenient. Research on electronic monitoring primarily focuses on financial or technical implications for penal policy, or on numbers and recidivism. This article
analyses the experiences with electronic monitoring of 27 convicts living in the greater Ghent area (Belgium). It is concluded that electronic monitoring cannot necessarily be considered a “softer” alternative to imprisonment.