A Surge in Electronic Offender Tracking

Electronic offender tracking is nothing new. Crude devices that used to re-

port whether an offender left a particular location have been replaced with

sophisticated GPS-tracking systems that can easily keep tabs on offenders'

whereabouts at all times. And as with most technologies, it has become more

accessible and cheap. This begs the question, is electronic offender tracking

being used more often than it should be?

According to a recent Public Safety Performance Project study from the

Pew Charitable Trusts, the answer may be yes. A 2015 survey revealed that

the number of accused and convicted criminals placed on electronic moni-

toring increased nearly 140 percent in 10 short years, raising concerns over

what many feel is an ever-widening criminal justice "net."

The Pew survey was innovative because rather than contacting local gov-

ernments to ask about their supervision practices, it instead went to the com-

panies that make and sell tracking devices. The researchers were able to survey

enough companies to capture 96 percent of all electronic tracking devices sold

in the past several years. And the companies are doing just fine! Some 53,000

devices were sold in 2005, but that number swelled to 125,000 in 2015.

The survey also showed that the greatest growth in electronic offender

supervision occurred in the area of GPS technology; it accounted "for all of

the 10-year growth in electronic tracking, more than offsetting a decline in

the use of [older] RF devices," those that would simply inform authorities

when a supervised individual left a particular location.

In fairness, it should be noted that electronic monitoring is still the

exception when it comes to supervising released offenders. Nationally,

nearly 3.8 million people were supervised in the community during 2015

(not including parole), so electronic monitoring seems to occur in just 3 to

4 percent of cases.

1. Should electronic monitoring be used more or less?

2. What are the strengths and limitations of electronic monitoring?

Do they differ based on the devices used?