Electronic Monitoring Essay

620 Words3 Pages
With all the overcrowding in jail and prisons these days, many people who get convicted of crimes are being put on probation. This paper I am going to discuss how electronic monitoring is used for public safety, if it accomplishes the goals it is intended for and home confinement with the use of electronic monitoring. Electronic monitoring is a growing alternative to incarceration in prison or jail (Champion, 2008). Electronic monitoring is usually used for offenders that are seen as low-risk and who have usually committed misdemeanor crimes. The criteria that is used for selecting offender as clients for electronic monitoring is very strenuous. When it comes to electronic monitoring, public safety is the number one priority. There are a few ways that electronic monitoring is used for public safety. The first way that is used for public safety, is that the device emits an electronic signal that is relayed to computers either in police stations or probation departments. Another way that it is used for public safety is that it verifies that the offender is at a specified location during particular times. Certain devices that are linked to a central computer can call the offender at random times to verify the offender is where they are supposed to be. If the offender does not answer the phone after a few attempts then a police officer is sent to their place to visual verify that they are there. And there are some electronic monitoring devices that emit a continuous signal that is sent to a portable receiver, and the probation officer can make a drive by of the offender’s house and verify their presences. The devices can also be set to alert the probation officer if the offender comes within a certain range of their victims. Also the devices are attached to the offenders and cannot be removed except by a probation officer. If an offender tries to tamper with

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