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Within the past year nine states – Alabama, California, Florida,
Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee -- have
passed laws to employ Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)
technology to track the movements of sex offenders. These laws
were passed largely in response to high profile cases in which
sex offenders on parole continued to commit heinous crimes. A
recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that
nationwide, one-fourth of registered sex offenders cannot be
located.
The National Conference of State Legislatures expects GPS
surveillance to be one of the top 10 legislative issues of 2006.
There are two types of GPS surveillance: active and passive.
Active GPS allows the offender to be tracked in “real time” on a
computer that depicts the offender’s location on a city map. The
technology also allows authorities to set parameters that
restrict an offender from being in certain areas such as a
victim’s neighborhood or a school. If the offender violates the
boundaries, an alert is registered at the monitoring center and
relayed to authorities. The system can also notify the victim
automatically by beeper.
Passive GPS technology has many of the same features as Active
GPS, but it does not report the offender’s movements in real
time. Instead, the system maintains a log of his location
through daily transmissions via phone. Passive technology is
less expensive, but it requires more human resources to analyze
the downloaded data.
Florida has been experimenting with equipment that integrates
electronic monitoring devices with crime scene mapping in a
Web-based application for law enforcement agencies and crime
scene analysts. Florida’s recidivism rate has declined to less
than 5% in the three years since the technology has been in
operation in the state according to Hoyt Layson Jr., designer of
the GPS system.
Sources:
“Electronic
Monitoring Should be Better Targeted to the Most Dangerous
Offenders,” Report No. 05-19, National Institute of Justice,
April 2005.
“States Move on Sex Offender GPS Tracking,” Associated Press,
July 30, 2005.
“Sex
Offender GPS Tracking Proposed,” Times-Picayune, August 27,
2005.
“Annual
Meeting Sessions Summary: Crime Technology: Science Meets Law &
Order,” National Conference of State Legislatures, August
18, 2005. |
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