What Is a Probation Bracelet?

Function

• Probation bracelets, usually worn on the ankle, send out timed radio frequency or GPS signals that alert law enforcement officials when a person under house arrest moves outside of their mandated boundary.
  
  

Significance

• According to the Journal of Offender Monitoring, an estimated 130,000 probation bracelets were activated daily in the United States in 2007.
  
  

Effects

• According to a study at Kutztown University, probation bracelets are not effective in deterring future crime for moderate to high-risk offenders.
  
  

Considerations

• The companies that manufacture probation bracelets design them to be tamper-resistant, but people can cut them off. Police receive a signal if they are.
  
  

New Development

• Some counties have started to issue a new probation bracelet for DUI offenders that reads the amount of alcohol in a person's sweat to alert police that they are drinking.
  
  

Warning

• Companies that monitor probation bracelets are required to notify authorities if a person cuts off his bracelet, but this doesn't always happen. According to November, 2009 story published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a Dekalb County murder suspect had cut off her ankle bracelet and the monitoring company didn't notify authorities until the following day.