House arrest

In justice and law, house arrest is the situation where a person is confined (by the authorities) to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all. House arrest is a lenient alternative to prison time.

Related Topics:
Justice - Law - Residence - Travel - Prison

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While house arrest can be applied to common criminal cases, when prison does not seem an appropriate measure, the term is often applied to the use of house confinement as a measure of repression of authoritarian governments against political dissidents. In that case, typically, the person under house arrest does not have access to means of communication (telephone). If electronic communication is allowed, conversations will be censored.

Related Topics:
Authoritarian - Dissident - Telephone - Censored

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Nowadays, in technologically advanced countries, house arrest is often enforced with the use of an electronic sensor locked to the offender's ankle. The offender will not able to remove the tracking device. If the subject and the sensor venture too far from the home, the violation is recorded and the proper authorities are summoned.

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