U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Scope of Electronic Monitoring Today

NCJ Number
133359
Journal
Journal of Offender Monitoring Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall 1991) Pages: 6-8,10-11
Author(s)
M Renzema; D Skelton
Date Published
1991
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Following a review of the history of electronic monitoring, this review identifies the growth and numbers of programs and offenders, the legal statuses of monitored offenders, equipment currently in use, and the potential for electronic monitoring as a part of a behaviorally oriented treatment program and the possibility for abuse.
Abstract
A series of surveys sponsored by the National Institute of Justice from 1986 through 1989 and the 1990 Kutztown University survey have tracked the growth of monitoring from a daily census of 95 offenders on electronic monitoring in April 1986 to over 12,000 offenders as of February 1990. Of the 285 public agencies responding to the 1990 overall survey, 214 identified the following as reasons for implementing electronic monitoring: reduction of crowding or reduced incarceration costs; provision of additional or alternative sentencing options; augmentation of supervision, control, or community production; reduction of incarceration; and rehabilitation. The massive growth in the use of electronic monitoring of parole systems since the completion of the 1990 survey appears to be occurring more from the expansion of existing programs than from the initiation of new sites. 11 notes and 4 tables