Electronic Monitoring is Dangerous (From America's Prisons: Opposing Viewpoints, P 222-229, 1991, Stacey L. Tipp, ed. - See NCJ-159858)

• NCJ Number: 159886
• Author(s): R A Ball; J R Lilly
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Greenhaven Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article argues that electronic monitoring of offenders, used for offenders placed on home incarceration, poses a threat to personal liberty.

Abstract

Individual freedom is endangered because electronic devices, rather than community volunteers, are used to monitor the activities of offenders. While home incarceration can provide a cost-effective sentencing alternative for some offenders, the use of electronic monitoring equipment is an affront to personal privacy, and could be abused by the authorities in many ways. While alternative sanctions, such as home incarceration can relieve prison overcrowding, their use can also widen the net of social control.