Electronic supervision for sex offenders: Implications for work load, supervision goals, versatility, and policymaking

Electronic monitoring strategies are being used increasingly for sex offenders across the United States. Despite this increased use, few researchers have considered the broader implications for probation and parole officers when these tools are used. In this study, attention was given to how the use of electronic monitoring for sex offenders is related to supervision goals, work load, the use of other supervision strategies, and state level policies. Findings showed significant differences in several areas. The conclusion focuses on community corrections policy implications.     

Measuring Electronic Monitoring Tools: The Influence of Vendor Type and Vendor Data

The rise in the use of electronic monitoring tools for management of individuals in both pretrial and post-release correctional stages of the criminal justice system necessitates increased collaboration of criminal justice personnel with private sector companies that provide monitoring services. Given this shift, it is necessary to explore whether agency employees perceive that different vendors are providing levels or quality of services. This study indicates that parole officers perceive very few real differences in the monitoring services, equipment used, and ease of installation and deactivation of such equipment across two different vendors. The primary difference identified was in the costs of such services.     

Location and Assessment of an Historic (150–160 Years Old) Mass Grave Using Geographic and Ground Penetrating Radar Investigation,NW Ireland*

Abstract: Reburial of human remains and concerns regarding pathogens and pollution prompted the search for, and assessment of, a 156-year-old graveyard. To locate this graveyard, historic and anecdotal information was compared to landscape interpretation from aerial photography. To assess and map the contents, surface collapses, metal detector indications, and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) were used. Some 170 anomalies compatible with burials were identified on 200 MHz GPR data, 84 of which coincided with surface collapses, suggesting both noncollapsed ground, subsequent infill, and multiple inhumations. The graveyard was possibly split into Roman Catholic plots with multiple inhumations; Protestant plots; and a kileen, or graveyard for the unbaptized (often children). The work serves as one approach to the location and mapping of recent and historic unmarked graves.