NCJ Number
134328
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1991) Pages: 399-414
Date Published
1991
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Critiquing the electronic monitoring (EM) movement, this discussion draws upon and expands the various "techno-fallacies" that characterize many recent efforts to use technology to address social issues.
Abstract
Ten techno-fallacies are expanded upon in the context of electronic monitoring: the fallacy of explicit agenda; the fallacy of novelty; the fallacy of intuitive appeal or surface plausibility; the fallacy of the free lunch or painless dentristry; the fallacy of quantification; the fallacy of ignoring the recent past; the fallacy of technical neturality; the fallacy of the 100 percent accurate or fail-safe system; the fallacy of the sure shot; and the fallacy of assuming that a critic who questions the means must be opposed to the ends. It is necessary to approach electronic monitoring cautiously and to examine the broader cultural climate, the rationales for action, and the empirical and value assumptions on which they are based before implementing technical solutions. 31 references