The sentence of home detention was introduced in November 2007. This sentence may only be imposed where the court would otherwise have imposed a short-term sentence of imprisonment, which is defined in the Sentencing Act as a sentence of two years or less. A sentence of home detention requires an offender to remain at an approved residence under electronic monitoring.
Home detention has several advantages over a short-term prison sentence in that offenders can retain employment and access rehabilitative programmes in the community, as well as allowing them to maintain family relationships. Home detention is also a very cost-effective sentence. The cost of administering a sentence of home detention is about one quarter of that of a term of imprisonment.
Balanced against these advantages, the fact that offenders remain in the community means that they may have greater opportunity to commit further offences than they would have had if they had been sentenced to a term of imprisonment. The review sets out the data regarding the types of offences for which a sentence of home detention has been imposed since its introduction in 2007, offences committed while offenders were on home detention, and reoffending levels compared to short-term sentences of imprisonment and more restrictive non-custodial sentences such as intensive supervision and community detention.