Electronic Monitoring of Offenders Increases

• NCJ Number: 116750
• Author(s): A K Schmidt
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 4 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Technical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: National Institute of Justice: Research in Action, Reprinted from NIJ Reports, No. 212, January/February 1989

Annotation

A NIJ survey of electronic monitoring programs showed that officials in 33 States were using electronic monitoring devices to supervise nearly 2,300 offenders in 1988, a total nearly 3 times the number using this approach a year earlier.

Abstract

Most of those monitored in 1988 were sentenced offenders on probation and parole who were taking part in a program of intensive supervision in the community. A few had been released either pretrial or while their cases were on appeal. Many monitoring programs involve small numbers of offenders. Those monitored in both 1987 and 1988 were mainly men who ranged in age from 10 to 79. A quarter were charged with major traffic offenses, usually driving under the influence or while intoxicated. Property offenders were also strongly represented, while drug law violators made up 15.3 percent of those monitored. Monitoring was done using either continuously signaling devices or programmed contact devices that contact offenders periodically to verify their presence. Monitoring programs have expanded rapidly in the short time they have been used. Figures.