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News

Go Go Gadget Sex Offenders!

By  Lindsay William-Ross
Published Jan 11, 2009 11:00 PM
GPS_monitoring_CDCR.jpg
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All 6,622 Sex offenders on parole in the state will now be hooked up to and monitored by a GPS system, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) announced today. According to a press release, those individuals have now been "fitted with an ankle bracelet that transmits its location to parole agents, who also visit [them] on a routine basis." The program is the result of Jessica's law, which was passed on the ballot in 2006 as Prop 83, and it requires "that every paroled sex offender be monitored by GPS." The system was meant to be fully implemented by June 2009, but they're now 6 months ahead of schedule--a rare accomplishment in this era of state-level stagnation. The CDCR may next move to using GPS to track gang activity, although our budget may make this a more long-term plan. Another reason to be a proud Californian? Tripling Florida's meager 1,800 GPS units, our state is now "the nation's leader in using GPS technology to track sex offenders."

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