Location Monitoring Reference Guide

Location Monitoring (LM) is a court-imposed condition or sentencing alternative that requires a person under pretrial or post-conviction supervision to be confined to a specific location (often a primary residence) and/or monitored in the community. The court may designate the type of Location Monitoring technology to be used for monitoring the person under supervision or, absent circuit case law to the contrary, may give the officer the discretion to select the monitoring method. 

When a court imposes LM on an individual, United States Probation and Pretrial Services officers (“officers”), with the aid of technology, will monitor the individual’s location and patterns of behavior. While LM is not a replacement for supervision nor a guaranteed method to prevent new crimes or noncompliance with conditions of supervision, it is one tool that helps provide accountability for the whereabouts of a person under supervision.

This guide provides historical information on the use of LM as a federal supervision tool, a legal framework for imposing LM, LM operational information, and policy considerations for LM’s use as a supervision tool in the federal criminal justice system.^[1]

History of Location Monitoring as a Federal Supervision Tool 

Use of LM as a federal supervision tool dates back decades. In March 1986, in response to deficit reduction legislation, the U.S. Parole Commission in conjunction with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) initiated an experimental curfew parole program.  Under the program, officers monitored participants through random telephone calls and weekly in-person contacts. In 1993, the AO awarded its first national contract to provide home confinement monitoring services, known as “electronic monitoring,” in federal supervision cases. In 2012, the term “electronic monitoring” was changed to “Location Monitoring” to better reflect the supervision of a person during a predetermined time period that is monitored and verified, as opposed to the term “electronic monitoring,” which has come to describe the supervision of individuals by electronic means.

Download the full document (pdf) or explore different sections below.

Contents

Authority to Impose Location Monitoring

• Pretrial
• Post-Conviction
  • Probation
  • Prerelease Custody
  • Supervised Release
  • Intermediate Sanction for Supervision Noncompliance

How Location Monitoring Works

• Available Location Monitoring Equipment

  • Radio Frequency (RF)
  • Global Position System (GPS)
  • Voice Recognition (VR)
• Restriction Levels in Location Monitoring
  • Curfew
  • Home Detention
  • Home Incarceration
  • Stand-Alone Monitoring

Use of Location Monitoring in the Field

• Recommendation of Location Monitoring
• Sample Condition Language for Court Orders
  • Pretrial Release
  • Post-Conviction Supervision
• Installation of Location Monitoring Equipment
• Maintaining Contact with Persons on Location Monitoring
• Monitoring Location Monitoring and Responding to Alerts

Costs & Payment of Expenses Incurred for Location Monitoring

¹ This resource guide is for general information purposes only. It does not create any legal rights or set any precedent.