Electronic Monitoring of Criminals Saves Money

The Michigan tether program for electronic monitoring of criminals has helped the state save a significant amount of money. According to recent statistics, about 500 individuals are charged with various crimes that include rape, armored robbery and murder(cite/help?). Accommodating these individuals in jail is a very costly effort because in addition to the people awaiting their trial, there are also criminals serving out their sentences. No new jails are being constructed in the state and most of the jails are operating at full capacity. Fortunately, the GPS Tether ankle has come to the aid of state authorities as many of the nonviolent offenders who would be housed in a jail cell are instead monitored with a electronic tether on their ankle.

An estimated annual savings of more than $20 million is a significant incentive for the authorities to continue  using the Michigan tether program. People get to see criminals roaming around the city with tethered ankles and that gives them a sense of security as well.(Help?) Despite their cost benefit, not all counties in the state of Michigan are using the tether program for their nonviolent criminals. For instance, Wayne county uses it on almost every type of criminals whereas Macomb and Oakland counties tend to use these devices only on people accused of minor crimes(cite). Wayne county depends a little too much on the GPS tether Michigan because of the high crime rate in the county – electronic monitoring helps them keep  track of all of their criminals.(doesn’t this hurt the argument?)

Several other states are using programs similar to the offender monitoring services Michigan uses.  The Michigan tether program has been a huge success thus far, and has inspired other states to replicate the use of tethers to reduce costs of incarceration (cite). There is little need for low-level offenders to be  kept in jail, as tethering can be used for effective tracking of the offender’s activities.

The most amazing fact about tethers is that they use GPS, cell phone signals and even the landline phones (cite) to track the offenders. The use of technology has led to huge savings for the counties as they are able to track the activities of defendants at a fraction of the cost. While It’s actually the judge’s order or the chief of jails’ determination when it comes to deciding to utilize the GPS tether or not, it would be wise to allow for all counties within the state to be able to use the tether program on a wider array of potential convicts. Overcrowding of jails can be easily avoided by the use of a GPS tether for defendants.