NCJ Number
134631
Date Published
1989
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The potential for invasion of privacy posed by surveillance technology poses social ramifications that go beyond the issue of supervision of offenders.
Abstract
House arrest is an increasingly common fixture of criminal justice throughout the U.S. The focus has shifted away from rehabilitation and reintegration into the community and toward surveillance and control. The forces driving this latest shift include prison costs, public intolerance of crime, and the changing nature of surveillance. Now the State has at its disposal the power to control people beyond what was previously depicted as Big Brotherism. For this reason, it is especially important to examine house arrest and electronic monitoring. These new forms of surveillance are distinguished from traditional ones by (1) transcending distance, time, and physical barriers; (2) triggering a shift from targeting a specific suspect to categorical suspicion; and (3) decentralizing and triggering self policing. Legislative efforts should be directed to limiting electronic surveillance only to knowledge of the presence or absence of a person at home. This permits electronic monitoring for residential confinement if it is limited in its capacity to record or transmit information concerning the offender's presence at place of residence and is minimally intrusive. 12 references.