Electronic Monitoring Offenders

Electronic monitoring (EM) was first utilized in 1964 as a substitute for incarceration. Electronic monitoring, “or tagging, is the use of electronic devices to verify that an offender is at a particular location during specified ties. It is also a system of home confinement aimed at monitoring, controlling, and modifying the behavior of offenders. The offender wears an electronic bracelet or ankle device in accordance with conditions set by the courts”(). While EM is a viable alternative to jail, there are some concerns about the program. There are four types of EM devices. The first is a continuous signal device. This device is a miniature transmitter that the offender wears on their wrist and it broadcasts an encoded signal to a receiver-dialer in their home. Phone lines are used to transmit the signal to a central receiving system. The second type is a programmed contact device. A central computer at the probation office is programmed to call the probationer’s home at random hours to verify that they are home. They must answer the phone and insert their wrist transmitter into a device on the phone and their voices and signal transmission are verified by a computer. () Third is the cellular device. Offenders wear a transmitter that emits a radio signal

Those in favor of EM maintain that this solution is economical, yet those against it debate that offenders currently on the program would not have been incarcerated before the technology existed. They would have been on supervised probation, another reasonable solution. Another argument against the cost-effectiveness of EM is the per diem costs compared with the expense of incarceration. Basically, jail costs are fixed and releasing someone onto probation does not cut the costs of those rates. Also, EM programs generate profit by charging user fees. These fees are unfair to the disadvantaged and they are the ones most likely to be on the