The inevitability of GPS tracking and cost-saving technocorrections

I just came across this recent UK Reuters article headlined "GPS grows as a crime-fighting tool in US."  These excerpts from the piece confirm my instincts that widespread use of GPS tracking and other cost-saving technocorrections are inevitable in the years ahead:

Coast to coast, authorities are expanding electronic monitoring to fight crime -- moving beyond its early use in tracking movements of sex offenders to include gang members who have been released on probation, people accused of repeated violence against women and even truant students at schools.

At the heart of the surveillance is a technology best-known for helping people on the road: the global positioning system. Other countries are watching closely. GPS monitoring is already established in parts of Europe but applied more narrowly, and it's growing fast in Latin America, said Jeff Durski, spokesman for iSECUREtrac Corp, based in Omaha, Nebraska, which manufactures the devices and leases them to police and courts.

Massachusetts, one of the first states to employ it in 2006, now has about 700 people fitted with electronic bracelets that send signals via satellite to computer servers if they go places they shouldn't -- so-called "exclusion zones." The Massachusetts law, which allows judges to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of a restraining order, has become a model for states such as Illinois and Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Senate voted 47-0 in April to enlist GPS technology to protect victims of domestic violence. The Illinois House of Representatives unanimously passed similar surveillance legislation last month.

Part of the appeal is money. GPS is a cost-effective alternative to prison, said Paul Lucci, deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Probation Service, pointing to a chart taped to his office wall showing a state-wide surge in use of GPS -- mostly to track sex offenders but also for others. "These people probably should be in jail but the cost of incarceration can be as much as $30,000 or $40,000 (15,000 or 20,000 pounds) a year.  The GPS costs about $3,400 a year," he said. "I think it's good on both sides. It is a device to protect the public. Although we can't guarantee anyone's safety, it provides an extra level of supervision on somebody.  On the other side, for a defense attorney, it is in lieu of incarceration," said Lucci.

Some related posts on GPS tracking:

• Are microchip implants for offenders inevitable?
• UK getting serious about GPS through microchip implants
• A sober (and caffeinated) look at GPS tracking realities
• The practical challenges of sex offender tracking
• Are we willing to pay the costs of (effective?) technocorrections like GPS tracking?
• The devil's in the details of GPS tracking of sex offenders
• Is GPS tracking a better way?
• More on the pros and cons of GPS tracking
• New article examining incapacitation innovations