Recommendations For Model GPS Monitoring Legislation

• Model legislation authorizing GPS monitoring must center on the organizing principle of victim safety. The key component of legislation is its responsiveness to the likelihood of increased danger that a batterer poses to the victim once the crime has been reported or alleged in the context of a civil proceeding. Set forth below are recommended features of such a statute;
• Law enforcement officers responding to any call involving a domestic incident should assess the potential lethality of the situation through the use of an approved dangerousness assessment and risk-management protocol to evaluate the risk of escalating violence in the situation.
• Upon reviewing conditions of dangerousness posed by a person alleged to have committed any type of domestic assault, a judge may, in her discretion, require the use of GPS electronic monitoring of an alleged offender as a condition of bail.
• A judge may order a domestic violence offender to be placed on GPS electronic monitoring to augment and help enforce the terms of an order of protection.
• A judge may furnish the domestic violence victim with a protective tracking device that informs the victim if the offender breaches impermissible geographic zones.
• Upon a showing of dangerousness, an alleged offender can be held until a hearing before a judge, in order to prevent re-assault opportunities and to protect the victim pending trial.
• The state may not use information gained through the use of GPS monitoring of domestic violence offenders for purposes unrelated to the domestic assault.