Wednesday, March 21, 2012

GPS Tracking on Sex Offenders




GPS Tracking on Sex Offenders 

 Sex offenders have several restrictions when it comes to their personal lives such as where they live, where they can work and basically what they can and cannot do in their daily lives. With the amount of overcrowding in our prisons and jails some states have resorted to GPS tracking on sex offenders after they have been released from prison. I can’t imagine it being more expensive than making these offenders serve life sentences or extremely long sentences. However, I feel this sort of “punishment” should be saved for offenders with the shorter track record and the least violent. But like any system this is not completely error proof and still needs some work. Four states, Florida, Missouri, Ohio and Oklahoma have already implemented a program in which sex offenders are electronically monitored for the rest of their lives. Sex offenders are already required to check it on a consistent basis; this sort of technology would allow law enforcement to track them without them checking in. Some are arguing that this is a civil rights violation and should not be used on those who they feel will not recidivate. Lifetime monitoring may be a little bit excessive but that is a stipulation that can always be altered at a later time. With these devices, authorities have the power to locate the offender at any moment. From an investigation stand point these monitors could be extremely beneficial with investigating new cases and eliminating suspects. As with all technology though there are some flaws that must be worked out in order for the use of these monitoring systems to spread to more states and more agencies. Several situations in which a GPS monitoring system could have prevented a crime have surfaced recently. For example, the story of 9 year old Jessica Lunsford of Florida. She was murdered by a registered sex offender John Couey. Couey is now fitted with a GPS monitoring system for life. If Couey had been placed on the monitoring system immediately after his release Jessica may have been able to be rescued. The rape and murder case of Chelsea King, a 17 year old has forced California to take another look at their monitoring system. John Albert Gardner III was found guilty in this case and was linked to the rape and murder of another girl Amber Dubois who was only 14. The twist to this story is that he was linked to Dubois after King was found dead. Gardner had already been convicted for molesting at 13 year old girl in 2000. Gardner could have faced 15 years in prison; instead he was sentenced with 6 and served 5. If Gardner had been fitted with a GPS tracking system both of these cases could have been avoided in my opinion. What do you think about GPS tracking on sex offenders? Is it a violation of their rights? Would it reduce recidivism rates?



 RESOURCES • http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/TheLaw/chelseas-law-track-sex-offenders-gps/story?id=10063652&page=2 • http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164288,00.html

8 comments:

  1. I have a simple solution: lock them up and throw away the key. Why even bother with tracking devices? I believe that sexual predators can not be rehabilitated, the urge to do horrible things to women and children does not go away and these offenders spend the rest of their lives fighting the urge to do it again. I took a sex offender class at ISU and I was astonished to know how many sexual crimes a person actually commits before they are even caught and then how many the commit even after they have served their time. The number of innocent lives that are affected by these people is unbelievable. The only thing worse to me then murder is a person who sexually abuses a child, and for that I feel they should be treated the same as murderers.

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  2. I think this would be a valid tool to implement. I am currently taking the Sex Offenders class, and we recently learned that offenders are less likely to recidivate as they get older, thus it would be cheaper, and perhaps calm those worried about civil rights, if offenders only had to wear the GPS anklet until they turned 60. As it is, the majority of sex offenders do no re-offend, (although it may depend on the type of offense they committed). While it's easy to say to just lock them up and throw away the key, that is not what our society does, so we have to be able to prevent future victims by using GPS anklets, therapy, etc.

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  3. I have no problem with this at all. I personally think it would be a great idea. The only problem I can see with it would be the cost associated with it. I know with electronic monitoring the person bas to pay for the privilege. It would be hard to say that a person has to have this, and then say oh yeah by the way you have to pay for it too. I think this is especially true with sex offenders since the stigma associated with it makes it even harder to get a job than a convicted felon with a non sex offense. Also you would have to look at who gets it based on their offense. The eighteen year old who had sex with his sixteen year old girlfriend I don't believe needs to be GPS monitored, but he still has to register as a sex offender. I guess it is like any other new issue, there are kinks to be worked out but overall I am definitely in favor of this!

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  4. I feel that this idea is indeed a possible solution to keeping track of sex offenders once they are released from prison. I feel that the serious sex offenders should defiantly be kept in close tracking. Sex offenders often do recidivate and I feel that this device might help put a stop to some of them reoffending. I also feel that it would be beneficial to society. I know that if I had a sex offender living close to me I would want to know that law enforcement had a close eye on them and by having this device law enforcement would know exactly where they are at.

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  5. I feel like the gps tracking should be last resort, because they should stay in prison for the rest of their life. In my opinion just because they have a GPS tracking device does not mean they can't hurt or kill an individual, people are still not safe around sex offenders. I don't think it violates their rights because they should not have rights to begin with.

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  6. This could work but its still not a error proof solution to stopping offenders from reoffending. Yes, the device could track where they are at all times but they could still be out commit crimes. If all sex offenders had these tracking devices it may be hard for law enforcement to keep an eye on all of them. It may be good though because of the stigma offenders will feel from having to permanently wear a GPS for the rest of their lives. I don't think that wearing this device violates their rates. Sex offenders are disturbed people who deserve to be several punished. I'd like to say this would be a beneficial option, however, I just don’t feel like it would completely stop them from offending.

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  7. I like the idea of GPS tracking for sex offenders. Although it is not completely fool proof, it is still a reassuring thought that the offenders are being closely watched. I like that they have to pay for this means and it will save space and money in the prisons. When looking at sex offenders, as time goes on they are less likely to re commit these crimes. So, as long as they are watched and keep registering, the public might not have such a negative view on these offenders.

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  8. I have mixed feelings about this. I think that they should be letting out then the least violent and harmful to the community/society. I am also questioning the effectiveness of the monitors because all you know where they are, but you still don’t know they are around or what they are actually doing. It also is probably costly and if they have them, I think they should have a job so that they can pay for the cost since this is an alternative to them serving time.

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