According to a recent report from The Pew Charitable Trusts the number of accused and convicted offenders placed on electronic monitoring rose nearly 140 percent over 10 years, thanks in large part to a sharp increase in the use of GPS technology.
The findings are based on a survey conducted in December 2015. More than 125,000 people were supervised with electronic tracking devices in 2015, compared to 53,000 individuals in 2005. As noted by Pew, all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government use electronic monitoring to track the movements of pretrial defendants and convicted offenders who are on probation or parole.
To calculate their figures, the survey counted the number of active GPS and radio-frequency units reported by the companies that manufacture and operate them. GEO Reentry Services’ sister company, BI Incorporated, provides electronic monitoring technology — including GPS and RF tracking and alcohol detection — to law enforcement agencies across the country.
The full report delves into how electronic tracking works and how they measured the use of electronic tracking devices, as well as how GPS technology drove the increase.