GPS tags use set to rise as reoffending rates cut by 20%
28/08/2025 | UK Government
A new study by the Ministry of Justice has found that GPS tags have cut reoffending by 20% for burglars, robbers, and thieves, leading to a continued rollout of the technology. The study showed that offenders wearing the tags were significantly less likely to reoffend.
The tags, which work by monitoring and mapping offenders' movements against the locations of unsolved crimes, have significantly saved police time and acted as a deterrent to wearers. The evidence suggests that the pilot helped police avoid approximately 16,000 unnecessary arrests over a three-year period. Furthermore, only 160 out of 3,360 tagged offenders were convicted due to their movements being mapped.
The findings come as the number of electronically tagged offenders has reached a record high of almost 20,000 as of June 2025. The government plans to tag thousands more offenders as part of sentencing reforms.
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