Thursday, 10 March 2016

Understanding How House Arrest Monitoring Happens

By James Wagner


Punishment of offenders in the society is shifting from the use of incarceration as the primary form of punishment. Cheaper alternatives such as house arrest are being researched and adopted as alternatives to incarceration, especially in countries where prison populations are very high. Technological advancements have made house arrest monitoring much easier as opposed to when it was the most challenging part of alternative programs. Today, law enforcement officers do not have to worry about offenders violating geographical provisions because such violations can be seen from a computer quite easily.

Various kinds of electronic devices have been created to monitor movement by offenders until they finish serving their punishment. These devices are applied on both young and adult offenders. They have been to be found efficient in that application that they are in wide application today. The location of the offender can thus be known at any specific time. Violation of geographic confinement can therefore be tracked easily.

An ankle monitor is one of the most commonly deployed electronic house arrest monitor. The monitor also goes by other names such as an ankle bracelet and a tether. It refers to a small homing gadget that is worn by people under hour arrest or parole. The device has a transmitter unit that sends radio frequency signals to a receiver with various pieces of information including its current location.

Moving outside a specified geographical region triggers the device to transmit a radio frequency signal to a receiver. Receivers are usually other computers owned by law enforcement agencies or contractors that perform monitoring on behalf of the government. Ankle monitors have tamper proof designs. This makes them to transmit a signal to the receiver when one tries to remove them.

The device relies on either a cellular or land-line network to transmit radio frequency signals to the receiving computer. The signal is usually in the form of an alert message that is relayed to the receiver. There are GPS units that are similar in design as ankle monitors only that they may require the wearer to carry a cell phone for receiving signals from the ankle unit. In some designs, both functions may be incorporated in ankle units.

The invention of electronic monitoring was made in the 1960s by a small team of Harvard University researchers. The first judicially sanctioned application of the technology happened in New Mexico in 1983. Michael Goss was responsible for all the production at that time. After six years from that time, there were six recognized commercial producers. In 2006, there was a total of 130 000 units in deployment in the United States.

Uncertainty exists in the level of effectiveness of electronic monitoring devices in crime reduction. This is the case due to the fact that parole violators are always preparing to commit more serious crimes. The main reason why the devices were adopted was to deter criminal behavior. However, research has indicated that this strategy is not different from other diversion programs.

Water cannot damage the devices because they are made to be water-resistant. Convenience is achieved by making them small and light. The color is often black but other colors may exist too.




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