A GPS tagging scheme in London has cut reoffending rates for high-risk domestic abuse offenders.

The data shows that those released from prison and fitted with a GPS tag were 45 per cent less likely to be charged with an offence in the 12 months after being fitted with a tag compared to the 12 months before being tagged. The reduction is 63 per cent for violent offences.

Through funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), the scheme was set up in 2021. Since then, it's been used 699 times for high-risk domestic abuse offenders.

The scheme acts as a deterrent and ensures enforcement action is taken if an offender breaks the conditions of their release. The GPS tags monitor their location and police and probation services can ensure offenders are following they release conditions. This could include conditions such as not entering ‘exclusion zones’ which could cover the address of a victim and ensuring that offenders are arrested if they breach restraining orders or licence conditions, as well as providing GPS location data that can be used to verify a victim’s account of any re-offending behaviour.

Analysis also shows a 50 per cent reduction in the number of charges for those who are tagged over 24 months and enforcement was also significantly strengthened, with a total of 232 offenders recalled back to prison for non-compliance with licence conditions. Of these 232 recalls, analysis shows that over two thirds involved the use of GPS data to detect non-compliance.

Statistics for London show that homicides are at their lowest in over a decade, there's been an 18 per cent reduction in knife crime in the second quarter of 2025/26, compared to the same time last year and Londoners are less likely to be a victim of a violence with injury offence than across the rest of England and Wales.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I’m determined to tackle violence against women and girls in all its forms. I’m pleased that my innovative GPS tagging scheme has been proven to protect women and girls from the perpetrators of domestic abuse and ensure they change their behaviour, not victims and survivors.

“Results released today show the programme drastically cut the rate of reoffending. We continue to lead the way on the use of electronic monitoring to ensure that offenders comply with their sentences and that victims are protected. This enforcement action is happening alongside my work to halt the spread of misogynistic attitudes is society and schools and record investment to support the police to go after the most violent perpetrators.

“There is no place for domestic abuse anywhere in London and as Mayor I’ll continue to do all I can to protect women and girls, through enforcement and education to build a fairer and safer London for everyone.”

The Victims' Commissioner for London, Claire Waxman OBE, said: “The Mayor’s GPS tagging scheme is protecting victims and holding domestic abuse perpetrators to account. By placing the responsibility for behaviour change squarely on offenders, we are shifting the burden away from survivors and ensuring that it’s perpetrators who are accountable and need to change, not the victims. The results show how technology can play an important role in delivering justice and safety.”