IMPROVING PUBLIC SAFETY THROUGH
TECHNOLOGY:
THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF
ELECTRONIC MONITORING IN CANADA

By
Doug LePard
Bachelor of Arts, Simon Fraser University, 2001
MAJOR PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS (CRIMINAL JUSTICE)
In the
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
© Doug LePard, 2017
UNIVERSITY OF THE FRASER VALLEY
Winter 2017
All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in
whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without
permission of the author.

Approval
Name:
Degree:
Title:

Doug LePard
Master of Arts (Criminal Justice)
Improving Public Safety Through Technology:
The Past, Present and Future of Electronic Monitoring in Canada

Examining Committee
Dr. Amy Prevost, Examining Committee Chair
GPC Chair (or designate)
Director
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
________________________________________________
Dr. Irwin Cohen
Senior Supervisor
Associate Professor
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

_________________________________________________
Dr. Ray Corrado
External Examiner
Professor
Simon Fraser University
Date Defended/Approved: __________________________________

ii

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iii

Abstract
Sexual predators who target strangers cause great harm to individuals, families, and the
community, and generate considerable fear. There is a robust legal regime in place to manage
Dangerous Offenders and Long Term Offenders, including supervision by parole officers and
access to electronic monitoring. However, the legal tools and capacity to manage offenders who
reach their “Warrant Expiry Date” (“WED”) after failing to qualify for parole or statutory release
are limited to recognizances under section 810.1 and 810.2 of the Criminal Code and ad hoc
monitoring by police. Modern Global Position Satellite (GPS) based electronic monitoring (EM)
provides a cost-effective opportunity to improve the supervision of predatory offenders released
at the end of their prison sentences and can increase public safety.
This Major Paper explores the legal regime to manage dangerous, long term, and WED
prisoners, and profiles WED offenders, examines the history and features of EM technology, as
well as its use internationally, and summarizes the research on the efficacy of EM. Further, this
Major Paper considers current and future uses of GPS-based EM for crime solving, as an
alternative to detention in appropriate cases pending trial, to prevent terrorism, and in forensic
psychiatry. This Major Paper also explores the use of EM outside the criminal justice system,
such as for those suffering from cognitive disorders who “wander.” Finally, this Major Paper
makes several recommendations to increase the use of EM for sexual predators in well-designed,
evidence-based studies, and concludes that this can be done in a cost-effective manner that
balances privacy rights with legitimate public safety goals.

iv

Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ iv
Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
The Legal Regime in Canada to Manage Dangerous Offenders, Long Term Offenders, and Warrant Expiry
Date Offenders .............................................................................................................................................. 4
A Profile of Warrant Expiry Date Prisoners................................................................................................... 9
Electronic Monitoring – The Technology .................................................................................................... 11
The Use of Electronic Monitoring Internationally ...................................................................................... 14
Research on the Effectiveness of Electronic Monitoring ............................................................................ 18
Discussion.................................................................................................................................................... 25
Criminological Theories Relevant to Electronic Monitoring ....................................................................... 28
The Future of Electronic Monitoring in Canada.......................................................................................... 31
The Use of GPS-EM to Reduce the Risk of Terrorism ................................................................................. 33
Emerging Uses of EM Technology for Crime Solving .................................................................................. 37
Uses of GPS-EM in Forensic Psychiatry ....................................................................................................... 40
Uses of GPS-EM Beyond the Criminal Justice System................................................................................. 42
Recommendations ...................................................................................................................................... 44
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 48

v

Preface
“I’ll see you in 22 years.” Those were the chilling words Raymond Caissie muttered to
his victim when, in 1992, he was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the violent rape, forcible
confinement, and robbery of a young woman working in an Abbotsford museum (Saltman,
2014). Prior to these crimes, Caissie had recently been released after serving a sentence for
kidnapping and had been in trouble virtually his entire life, even assaulting his kindergarten
teacher (Carman, 2014). At his trial, Carman (2014) described evidence that Caissie had shown
extreme violence and had antisocial personality disorder. Further evidence was presented that
demonstrated little hope for treatment or rehabilitation existed, and the sentencing judge found
that Caissie presented a “very serious danger to the public” (Carman, www.nationalpost.com,
2014).
Caissie completed his entire sentence. He was denied parole or release on statutory
supervision at two-thirds of his sentence when, by law, almost all offenders are released, unless it
can be demonstrated that they are likely to commit an offence causing death or serious injury to
another person, a sexual offence involving a child, or a serious drug offence (CCRA s.129.2a).
These offenders may be denied early release and held until their sentence is completed (CCRA
s.129.2a). Such offenders are known as “Warrant Expiry Date” (WED) prisoners. Once Caissie’s
22-year sentence had been completed, there was no option but to release him into the community
and seek a peace bond to at least impose some conditions to manage his risk factors, and to
consider police surveillance.
In March 2013, Caissie was released, living first in Vancouver and then in June moving
to Surrey, B.C (Surrey Leader, 2014). Caissie was bound by a Peace Bond under s. 810.2 of the
Criminal Code, which imposed certain conditions to manage his behaviour, including a
requirement that he not possess any weapons or tools that could be used to restrain someone. He

breached his conditions several times and was arrested, returning to prison for several months,
but was released again, once his three month sentence for breaching his conditions was
completed (Saltman, 2014). Given his history, it seemed inevitable that he would commit another
offence of serious personal violence.
On September 16, 2014, a 17-year-old girl, Serena Vermeersch, went missing in the
daytime. It was quickly reported to police and her body was found later that same day; she had
been brutally murdered. Within a week, Caissie had been arrested and charged with
Vermeersch’s murder. The public outcry was deafening (Saltman, 2014; Reynolds, 2016). A
young girl living a low-risk lifestyle had been taken from her friends and family in the most
brutal manner, allegedly by a known violent offender. The outrage was further inflamed when
the public learned that, despite authority to impose electronic monitoring (EM), Caissie was not
subject to EM and was only monitored by random police checks (CBC.ca, 2014). British
Columbia had made limited use of electronic monitoring, and they were using old “radio
frequency” (RF) technology, rather than much more sophisticated Global Positioning Satellite
(GPS) technology (Sierra Systems, 2014). It seems that there simply had been no catalyst to
drive technological modernization.
The results of this failure to modernize meant that, rather than being able to track
suspects’ movements, RF technology was limited to essentially establishing whether an offender
was complying with a curfew, as will be explained in more detail below. If Caissie had been
subject to EM using modern GPS tracking technology, as the law provided for, might this have
saved Serena Vermeersch’s life? This can never be known, but this major paper will explore the
efficacy of EM technology to contribute to good decision-making in the future regarding
offender management.

2

Introduction
Raymond Caissie was ordered to stand trial after a preliminary hearing that concluded
February 5, 2016 (Reynolds, 2016). The murder of Serena Vermeersch may be a tragic example
of the failure to use all reasonable strategies to reduce the risk posed by the most dangerous
offenders, including modern Electronic Monitoring (EM) systems that take advantage of GPS
technology. This major paper begins with a description of the legal regime in Canada to manage
dangerous offenders and long term offenders. In addition, this major paper will explore the
efficacy of EM for the group of offenders who are given determinate sentences, but are deemed
too dangerous to release on parole or statutory release, and so serve until their “Warrant Expiry
Date” (WED). As a result, they are typically the subject of a post-sentence peace bond applied
for by local police to impose conditions to protect the community. A profile of WED prisoners
will be provided that will add to the understanding of the risks posed by this understudied group
of offenders. This major paper will also provide a description of the evolution of EM technology,
explore the history of EM’s use internationally, summarize the research into the efficacy of EM
in the criminal justice system, and provide discussion and analysis of the advantages and
disadvantages of EM for offenders. This will include a discussion of the future of EM use in
Canada, including an analysis of the emerging use in Canada of EM for those believed to be at
risk of committing a terrorism offence. In doing so, this major paper will propose how EM might
be used in novel ways to complement other crime-solving strategies. Finally, this major paper
will explore other emerging and potential uses for GPS-EM to contribute to public safety both
within the criminal justice system (CJS), such as in a forensic psychiatric setting when dealing
with those found “NCRMD” (not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder), as well
as outside the CJS, such as for those suffering from cognitive disorders who “wander.”

3

The goal of this major paper is to summarize and provide an analysis of the best
information available about the efficacy of EM to enhance public safety. This major paper takes
the position that, while EM has, in many cases, not been subjected to sufficiently rigorous
evaluations to justify its use in some settings, it has also been underused in others. For certain
types of offenders, such as predatory, violent sex offenders, the evidence is sufficiently strong to
justify increased utilization, particularly with the benefits provided by modern GPS technology.
There is also some compelling research suggesting that EM could be effective and cost effective
with a broader variety of offenders; however, the law and public policy must lead the use of
technology, not follow it. Privacy interests must be considered, but those privacy interests must
be balanced against public safety. In effect, the higher the risk to the community, the more the
analysis must be weighted toward public safety and against individual privacy rights of those
found to pose a significant risk to public safety.

The Legal Regime in Canada to Manage Dangerous Offenders, Long Term
Offenders, and Warrant Expiry Date Offenders
There is a complex “Dangerous Offender” legal regime in Canada to incarcerate
indefinitely the most high-risk violent and sexual offenders, and to monitor high-risk “Long term
Offenders” who do not meet the criteria for Dangerous Offender status. Unfortunately, there are
many dangerous predators, like Caissie, who, for a variety of reasons, are not declared
Dangerous Offenders or Long-Term Offenders. For example, because of the serious implications
of being declared a Dangerous Offender, the evidentiary threshold is very high; the court must
conclude that the underlying offence is one involving serious personal injury, the offender is
dangerous, and demonstrates a “marked indifference to the consequences of his persistent
aggressive behaviour, that his or her behaviour is so brutal that it cannot be controlled or that the

4

offender is incapable of controlling his or her actions or sexual impulses and will in all
probability cause death or other serious injury if he or she is not put in preventive detention”
(Valiquet, 2008, p. 4). This is obviously a very high threshold and, given the difficulty of reliably
predicting future behaviour, one that is properly a challenge to meet.
Likewise, to be declared a Long-Term Offender (a designation that did not exist when
Caissie was sentenced in 1992), the Court must be satisfied that that there is reason to impose a
prison sentence of two years or greater, that the offender poses a high risk of recidivism and that
there is a realistic possibility of eventually managing that risk within the community (Criminal
Code, s. 753.1(1)). In essence, the community is being asked to take on the risk of an offender on
the basis that, at the time of incarceration, it appeared he could eventually be managed in the
community, notwithstanding the challenge of making such a prediction. In the absence of an
indeterminate sentence arising out of a Dangerous Offender designation, when offenders are
convicted of violent offences and receive a determinate sentence, they must be released upon
sentence completion. WED offenders are those who do not qualify for parole at any point after
eligibility at one-third of their sentences. Likewise, unlike the vast majority of offenders, they are
not released on statutory release because they are assessed to be too dangerous. There is
considerable attention paid to the recidivism rates of those released on parole and statutory
release; however, it appears that there is scant focus on the issue of WED offenders likely
because these offenders are no longer the responsibility of the Correctional Service Canada. In
other words, because they have completed their sentences and are not subject to any legal
sanctions, no player in the criminal justice system has “ownership” of them, unless they are
suspected of or caught committing a new offence.

5

Canadian law has had provisions to impose indefinite sentences on habitual or dangerous
offenders since 1947, when the Habitual Offenders Act was adopted (Solicitor General Canada,
2001). It set out that a person convicted of three criminal offences could be imprisoned for a
determinate sentence or indefinitely, as “preventive detention” (Criminal Code, 1947). In 1948,
the legislation was amended to include offenders classified as “criminal sexual psychopaths”
because they were found to be incapable of controlling their sexual impulses (Solicitor General
Canada, 2001). In the early 1960s, the legislation was amended to replace the term “criminal
sexual psychopath” with “dangerous sexual offender” because of criticism that the legislation
captured non-dangerous offenders, and required a history of previous offences for eligibility
(Library of Parliament, 2008). In 1977, the legislation was completely rewritten. The
classification of “dangerous sexual offender” was replaced with “dangerous offender” and the
option of a determinate sentence was removed; it is unclear from the literature why this occurred,
but it seems likely that it was on the basis that, if an offender was suitable for a determinate
sentence, then they did not meet the criteria for a Dangerous Offender designation. In 1997, in
recognition of the high threshold to declare someone a dangerous offender, the legislation was
amended to create a “long term offender” category. This legislation provided for up to 10 years
supervision in the community once a violent offender given a determinate sentence was released
(Solicitor General, 2001). Since the legislation was enacted (as of the end of fiscal year 201415), the courts had imposed 980 long term supervision orders. Of these, 70.1% were for a period
of 10 years (CSC, 2015).
In an outcome that one can safely assume was not intended by the law-and-order
Conservative government, the Supreme Court of Canada took a different view of the Long-Term
Offender legislation. Rather than viewing it as only an option for those serious offenders who did

6

not meet the criteria to be declared a Dangerous Offender, the Supreme Court of Canada found
that imposing a duty on a court to declare an offender a Dangerous Offender whenever the
statutory criteria were satisfied conflicted with appropriate sentencing principles. Specifically,
the Court noted that the principles of proportionality and restraint were most relevant (R. v.
Johnson, 2003). With a Long-Term Offender sentencing option, the Court found that those
offenders who met the criteria to be designated a Dangerous Offender, but whose risk could be
reduced to an “acceptable level” by a fixed term sentence followed by a period of community
supervision as a Long-Term Offender, must not be declared a Dangerous Offender. Instead, the
Court required that these offenders be given a determinate sentence (R. v. Johnson, 2003), which
had several implications.
For example, the combination of the 1997 Long-Term Offender legislation and the
Johnson decision changed the analysis for a sentencing judge hearing a dangerous offender
application. After the 1997 legislation and the Johnson case, sentencing judges were required to
select the least restrictive means of reducing the threat to an “acceptable level” (NJC, 2005),
notwithstanding the difficulty of predicting what an offender’s risk level might be in the future.
In other words, some offenders who would have been designated Dangerous Offenders and given
indeterminate sentences prior to the enactment of the Long-Term Offender legislation in 1997
would instead be given the lesser punishment; a determinate sentence followed by a period of
supervision in the community. In response, in 2008, the legislation was modified by the Tackling
Violent Crime Act (Bill C-2, 2007), which created a presumption that a person convicted of a
third violent or sexual offence subject to a sentence of two years or more was a dangerous
offender to be incarcerated indefinitely (Barnett, MacKay, & Valiquet, 2007).

7

Bill C-2 was certainly consistent with the Conservative Government’s punishmentfocused crime deterrence agenda, driven by what the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
(2008) described as Prime Minister Harper’s “strong, ideological beliefs.” Bill C-2’s policy
objective regarding repeat violent sex offenders was one that also simply made sense in terms of
protecting the public from offenders with multiple convictions for violent or sexual offences,
which, generate considerable public fear and concern (Chan, 2014; Bailey, 2015; Crawford,
2015). This seems particularly sensible given that, unlike Canada’s mandatory minimum
sentences that provide for no judicial discretion, Bill C-2 created only a presumption, not a rigid
requirement, providing for the defence to adduce evidence to rebut the presumption, and
preserved judicial discretion.
Until 1994, WED offenders convicted of sex offences (and all convicted sex offenders)
were subject to section 179(1) of the Criminal Code, which prohibited convicted sex offenders
from loitering near playgrounds, school yards, or public parks. In 1992, this legislation was
found unconstitutional because it restricted liberty more than it protected the public, applied to
too many places and too many offenders, and was indefinite (a decision subsequently upheld by
the Supreme Court of Canada) (R. v. Heywood, 1994). In 1993, Bill C-126 came into force in
Canada amending the Criminal Code by creating the section 810.1 order to provide a tool to
impose protective conditions where there are reasonable grounds to fear that a person will
commit a sexual offence against someone under the age of 14 years (since amended to include
those under 16 years of age) (Solicitor General Canada, 2001; Public Safety Canada, 2009).
On August 1, 1997, Bill C-55 came into effect and created the section 810.2 order. The s.
810.2 order is intended for use with violent offenders, including sexual offenders, and is
available when there are reasonable grounds to believe someone will commit a violent offence

8

against any person. Because these sections were ostensibly created to be preventative, not
punitive, it is unnecessary for an offender to have a previous criminal record. In reality, the
justification for such an order is very high, typically requiring information regarding the
subject’s prior criminal history, including information from the National Parole Board and
Correctional Service of Canada and materials from provincial/territorial probation/parole and
corrections, victim impact statements, interviews with the defendant or their family, and
psychological or psychiatric assessments or reports (Public Safety Canada, 2001). The threshold
is high because the courts have ruled that not only must there be criminal qualities in the
offender’s mental constitution and evidence of a public danger, there must be a history of crime
(Public Safety Canada, 2009; R. v. Budreo, 1995; R. v. Lyons, 1987). These orders are typically
used to manage a high-risk WED offender in the community and are the only legal tools
available.

A Profile of Warrant Expiry Date Prisoners
WED offenders, by definition, pose a high risk for violent reoffending, since they have
been assessed as too high a risk for either parole or statutory supervision, and account for only
3% (about 250) of the approximately 8,000 offenders released from federal custody each year, or
who graduate from one type of federal supervision to another (NPB, 2009; NPB, 2015).
Research has demonstrated that those released on parole have a high rate of successful
completion. For example, according to Axford (2010), 73% of offenders are not readmitted to a
federal institution during parole. In comparison, those not granted parole, but who are released
on statutory supervision, have a 59% success rate (Axford, 2010). When examining the longerterm outcomes, WED offenders have by far the worst recidivism rate of offenders compared to
those who had completed their sentences on parole or statutory supervision. National Parole
9

Board of Canada metrics demonstrate that 10 to 15 years after sentence completion, offenders
released only after completing their full sentences are four times more likely to be re-admitted on
a federal sentence than offenders who were granted parole (NPB, 2015). Further, between 28%
and 40% of offenders who were released at warrant expiry returned on a federal sentence within
10 to 15 years of release, compared to only 6% to 14% of offenders released on full parole (NPB,
2015). Finally, while those released on parole were more likely to be readmitted on a federal
sentence for a non-violent offence, offenders released at warrant expiry were more than ten times
more likely to return to a federal institution because of a new violent offence than offenders who
completed their sentences on full parole (NPB, 2015). WED offenders were held for their entire
sentence because of the risk they posed, and 98% of WED releases were of offenders who had
not previously been released on parole suggesting something about their lack of suitability.
Given this, these outcomes should not be surprising. What is particularly worrisome is
that, according to Correctional Service Canada data, of the approximately 250 WED offenders
released each year, almost half were serving a sentence for a sex offence (Fitch et al., 2006), so
their release creates an even more alarming public safety concern. It is estimated that, in British
Columbia, there are more than 1,200 violent or high-risk offenders either already living in the
community or who would complete sentences and be released at some point, and 97% of them
were male sex offenders (Vieira, 2005). From this group of offenders, the RCMP’s Behavioural
Science Group, in 2006-2008, compiled the ISPIN (Integrated Sexual Predator Information
Group) program with approximately 1,200 high risk offenders, derived from Crown Counsel
files based on future consideration for Dangerous Offender and Long Term Offender
applications. That group of offenders became the basis for further recent analysis of
dangerousness by a research team in British Columbia (Dr. Matt Logan, personal

10

communication, March 2017). Their research concluded that managing this group of highest-risk
offenders was very complex, noting that one of three subsets of offenders, which comprised 23%
of the total sample, exclusively targeted strangers and was at a high risk for sexual homicide
(Kaseweter, Woodworth, Logan, & Freimuth, 2016). This group, therefore, required “intensive
community supervision,” compared to those offenders who targeted known victims (Kaseweter,
Woodworth, Logan, & Freimuth, 2016, p. 130). Unfortunately, the large number of such
offenders makes effective risk mitigation strategies, such as human surveillance, completely
impracticable, therefore, strategies to complement traditional methods of community supervision
are important.

Electronic Monitoring – The Technology
Electronic monitoring (EM) refers to the use of a device worn by an offender to monitor
their compliance with restrictions on their liberty, such as curfews, prohibitions on leaving their
residences, or attending certain locations (IACP, 2008). The first generation of EM was based on
simple radio frequency (RF) technology, consisting of a transmitting device the offender wore on
his or her ankle linked to a receiver unit. This tool was initially used to enforce court-imposed
conditions, such as house arrest during certain hours, replacing or supplementing the need for inperson visits. If the offender strayed beyond a specified radius of the receiving station, the
wearable transmitter sent a signal to the receiver unit connected to the offender’s landline
telephone, which would then send an alert to a monitoring centre. The weakness of RF
technology is that it could only confirm the offender was near the receiving unit, and could not
track or record the offender’s whereabouts at any given time, other than when at home. As a
result, if the offender was allowed out during daytime hours, but was prohibited from attending

11

certain areas, such as schools or playgrounds, the technology was of no assistance to ensure
compliance (IACP, 2008; Gies et al., 2012).
Electronic Monitoring has a fascinating history, involving, incredibly, both the 1961 film
West Side Story and Spiderman cartoons from the 1970s (Gable & Gable, 2016). A Harvard
graduate student, after seeing West Side Story three times, “imagined a communication system
that would have prevented the male protagonist of the film from being killed” (Gable & Gable,
2016, p. 13). The student had a fortuitous social interaction with an electrical engineer, and they
had the inspiration to purchase surplus missile tracking technology. They set up a relatively
crude monitoring system intended to assist in the rehabilitation of offenders. As described by
Gable and Gable, a small sample of offenders showed a small reduction in offences compared to
a control group, but the reaction from the media was not positive, describing the experiment in
unflattering terms such as “Orwellian” (2016, p. 15).
The technology fell out of use for almost 10 years, until an Arizona judge, Jack Love,
was determined to improve the response to overcrowded prisons and escapes. He “recalled
seeing a series of Spiderman cartoons…in which a villain attaches an oversized I.D. bracelet to
Spiderman that allows the villain to locate, by radar, Spiderman’s location at any time” (Gable &
Gable, 2016, p. 16). Judge Love worked with a manufacturer to develop technology that
involved a transmitter that would be worn on the ankle and would communicate through a
telephone line to an early desktop computer. According to Gable and Gable (2016), Love
envisioned using the system as an alternative to prison for offenders who he felt should not be
exposed to the violence of prison, and ought to be able to continue to pursue work or education.
Once again, the technology fell out of use because of a lack of corporate investors until, in
another strange twist, the manufacturer of an electronic system to monitor cows, David Hunter,

12

saw the potential for his system to be used for offender monitoring. Gable and Gable describe
how Hunter’s company had “milked dry the dairy marketplace” (2016, p. 19), so invested in
offender management technology. Today, Hunter’s company is a subsidiary of the largest
offender monitoring service in the United States, electronically managing over 60,000 offenders
(Gable & Gable, 2016).
The next generation of EM took advantage of sophisticated Global Positioning Satellite
(GPS) technology. Although the U.S. military made its GPS technology available for civilian use
as far back as 1983, it purposely introduced errors to reduce its accuracy, meaning the location
indicated could be off by as much as 100 meters (Gable & Gable, 2016). While Gable and Gable
did not explain why, one could speculate the military had concerns that the technology could be
used for improper purposes, such as in an unauthorized weapons system. As a result, and because
of the technological challenges of GPS (e.g., loss of signal when inside some buildings and
battery-life challenges), GPS technology was not useful until the military was ordered by the
National Defense Authorization Act of 1996 to remove the GPS error. By this time, the
improvements in the technology and the elimination of the introduced measurement error made
GPS technology much more appealing for offender monitoring.
There are currently three types of GPS technology used to monitor offenders’ compliance
with conditions in the community. “Active” systems allow the offender to be tracked in near-real
time via a cellular phone connection. In a “passive” system, location and time data are stored in
the portable tracking device worn by the offender and can be downloaded when the device is
charged daily via a connection to a landline telephone (TBPP, 2007; Tewey, 2005). A “hybrid”
system is the newest technology and combines features of the passive and active systems. They
are different from active units in that they are programmed to send data at intervals, rather than

13

in real time, such as every few hours. If the device is tampered with or goes out of range, it will
immediately trigger an alert, as would be the case with an active system (IACP, 2008). A benefit
of a hybrid device is that the device automatically switches to RF when the offender is at home;
this saves battery life and eliminates GPS drift, which can affect its accuracy (CSC, 2015). GPS
accuracy can be affected by changes in satellite configuration or satellite data errors, as well as
operating near obstacles (Precision Agriculture, 2010).
Rather than being limited to monitoring “house arrest,” GPS technology allows the
offender to be monitored anywhere in virtually “real time” if an active system is used, or at
regular intervals with a hybrid system. Whereas RF technology can only indicate that the
offender is either in range or not of the receiving station, GPS technology allows the offender to
be monitored at all times and in any location, subject to the requirement of the technology to
connect with satellites. This allows more flexibility for the offenders and more capacity for those
responsible for monitoring them. Furthermore, GPS technology can be used to set locations
where an offender is not permitted to attend, such as a playground, and set off an alarm should
the offender go to an exclusion zone or prohibited location, allowing police to be notified and
respond quickly to prevent a potential offence. Finally, GPS technology can be used to track an
offender’s actions, creating a deterrent and a record of an offender’s whereabouts at any time.
This information could be useful to incriminate an offender or to exclude him from suspicion of
a crime.

The Use of Electronic Monitoring Internationally
As described previously, offender monitoring using EM began at least as far back as
1964 in the United States, and was used primarily for detection, restriction, and surveillance
(Button, DeMichele, & Payne, 2009). EM has been in use to varying degrees for decades in up to
14

27 countries in Europe (Nellis, 2014; Graham & McIvor, 2015), including the UK, France,
Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, and, more recently, Germany. Further, England and
Wales have EM regimes, but have been slow to move from RF to GPS technology (Nellis &
Martinovic, 2016). Scotland introduced EM in 1998 to monitor post-sentence conditions,
involving restricting offenders to a specific location up to 24 hours a day, or exclusion from a
particular place, broadening its use to Youth Courts in 2003 (Scottish Executive Social Research,
2007). In 2005, Scotland conducted an EM pilot across four jurisdictions, using EM as a
condition of bail for 117 offenders (Scottish Executive Social Research, 2007). New Zealand
moved quickly from about 200 offenders being monitored using RF technology to approximately
2,000 being tracked with GPS. In Korea and several Latin American countries, EM regimes
using GPS technology were implemented directly, without ever having experimented with RF
technology on the basis that it was “the modern, penally progressive thing to do” and because it
capitalized on the availability of modern GPS technology (Nellis & Martinovic, 2016, p. 7).
Belgium considered using EM as far back as the 1970s, but did not implement an EM
program until 1998 (Beyens & Roosen, 2016). Originally, it appears that EM was implemented
to provide a humane and rehabilitative alternative to custodial sentences because of overcrowded
prisons. As Beyens and Roosen pointed out, EM was only about one-sixth the cost of a custodial
sentence and allowed prisoners to avoid what Gainey and Payne (2000) described as the “pains”
of imprisonment (2016, 86). Beyens and Roosen concluded that Belgium authorities saw EM as
“a panacea for different shortcomings of the penal system-penal harm, high costs of
imprisonment, non-execution of prison sentences and unrest among prison officers due to prison
overcrowding” (2016, p. 103). These factors led to politicians being enthusiastic about

15

expanding EM’s use, and resulted in the population subject to EM rising to about 2,000
offenders by 2014 (Beyens & Roosen, 2016).
The result has been that EM is used in Belgium as both an alternative to custodial
sentences and for convicted offenders to be released onto EM before formally being paroled.
Beyens and Roosen (2016) further described how, prior to 2013, EM could only be utilized after
a judge had imposed a prison sentence, but, since then, EM has also become an “autonomous”
option for judges to consider upon sentencing, as long as the offence was one punishable for up
to one year in prison.
Although Belgium uses sophisticated GPS technology capable of tracking the movement
of offenders in real time, paradoxically, it is not used in this way. Beyens and Roosen (2016)
described that GPS is only used as a tool for home confinement. They concluded that “the
introduction of GPS tracking can be seen as an example of a purely technology-driven policy,
blindly following the supply of technological novelties, rather than being sensitive to the
professional needs of the field” (2016, p. 109). Additional support for the notion that the use of
EM was driven by the availability of the technology, rather than by evidence of its best use, is
that, according to Beyens and Roosen (2016), GPS technology was introduced on a national
scale without a pilot study, a situation not seen described in other jurisdictions in the literature
reviewed. Further, even though the 2012 legislation that prescribes the use of EM required that
the GPS technology had to be evaluated after 18 months, more than two years later, no such
evaluation had been conducted (Beyens and Roosen, 2016).
Germany was a much less enthusiastic, and later, adopter of EM. According to
Haverkamp and Woessner (2016), in 2011, Germany implemented a nationwide GPS program
for high-risk offenders after their release from prison. The literature on why Germany has, until

16

recently, made only limited use of EM is enlightening. Haverkamp and Woessner noted that the
public debate on EM was inflamed by passion, generating considerable controversy. They
suggested that suspicion of EM might be attributable to “the intrusive and arbitrary spying and
monitoring practice of German citizens during the Nazi and socialist regimes in Germany”
(2016, p. 118). Considering that, as recently as 1989, the East German Secret Police, known as
the Stasi, had 91,000 employees and 174,000 active informants (Miller, 1999), this deeply
ingrained suspicion of state surveillance is not surprising. It appears that there was also
opposition in Germany from many quarters because the high-risk offenders targeted for EM were
believed to be unsuitable for release into the community, and there was a strong sense that they
should be detained, rather than considered for non-custodial monitoring (Haverkamp &
Woessner, 2016). There was also strong public opinion that EM was not sufficiently punitive,
but because the preventative detention regime in use in Germany beyond sentence completion
for high risk sex offenders had been declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights,
Germany needed an alternative (Nellis & Marinovic, 2016).
In the United States, EM is used in at least 47 states, 27 of which have legislation for EM
specific to sex offenders, and 19 of which require it (Padgett, Bales, & Blomberg, 2006; Payne,
DeMichele, & Button, 2008). For example, Ohio requires certain sexually violent predators on
conditional release to be GPS monitored for life, unless a court removes the sexually violent
predator classification. Illinois also requires EM for those offenders convicted of an offence that
qualifies them as a sexual predator (Button et al., 2009). In Washington, D.C., the Court Services
and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia uses GPS to monitor its highestrisk offenders (about 100 on any given day) (CSOSA, 2011; CSOSA, 2015). While there is
typically a high level of public and political support for EM, there has been criticism that often

17

the legislation providing for use of EM for offenders results in net-widening (i.e., more offenders
are monitored than necessary), and is based on commonly held, but sometimes false popular
beliefs, about the predatory nature of these men, the probability of re-offending, and their
amenability to treatment (Button et al., 2009).
EM has also been used sporadically for many years in Canada in several provincial
corrections systems (Bonta, Wallace-Capretta, & Rooney, 2000). For example, B.C. Corrections
has used EM since 1987 (B.C. Government, 2015), but was limited to RF technology, and the
number of offenders being monitored in the last five years had been reduced from 172 to 45 in
2014 (Sierra Systems, 2014). It is unclear why this dramatic reduction occurred as the Sierra
Systems report did not canvas the issue, nor is an answer apparent in any of the documents
released by the B.C. Government. While EM is almost always limited to use by corrections
systems, in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, their respective police agencies began using GPS
bracelets to monitor a small number of high risk domestic violence offenders on a pilot basis,
using a grant from the provincial government (CBC.ca, 2014). Further, Calgary Police uses GPS
to monitor offenders subject to a court order, and use both GPS-enabled and proximity-based
devices (CPS, 2015).

Research on the Effectiveness of Electronic Monitoring
EM initiatives have been driven by the desire to improve cost efficiency, improve
monitoring, and enhance public safety (Nellis, 2014). Other benefits include the flexibility of EM
compared to a custodial sentence, as an offender can live at home, seek employment, and avoid
those conditions that may contribute to reoffending (Payne, 2008). Offenders themselves have
overall been supportive of EM and do not find it overly punitive. For understandable reasons,
offenders prefer it to incarceration, even if EM will continue for the rest of their lives. Of note,
18

research has demonstrated that offenders on EM in the community experience many of the same
pains as they would when incarcerated, such as “deprivation of autonomy, goods and services,
liberty, heterosexual relations, and security,” all of which are affected by the reduction in liberty
imposed by EM (Gainey & Payne, 2000, p. 86; Payne & Gainey, 1998, p. 150).
In Los Angeles, a survey sought to assess the attitudes and personal outcomes of 186
offenders who had completed an electronically monitored home confinement program (Rubin,
1990). All respondents said they were less likely to commit another crime after being on
monitored house arrest, with 70% indicating it was very unlikely they would commit another
crime. Interestingly, in one study, criminal justice students found EM to be more punitive than
those offenders subjected to it, but the researchers concluded that any shame and embarrassment
was acceptable if targeted at appropriate high-risk sex offenders (Payne & Gainey, 1999).
Further, analysis of longitudinal data from a large sample of inmates held on serious charges
suggested that feelings of shame and guilt inhibited recidivism (Tangney, Stuewig, & Martinez,
2014).
Research across many jurisdictions had historically produced weak or mixed results
regarding the efficacy of EM, and were fraught with methodological challenges. For example,
one study on EM concluded it was not effective for sex offenders (Button et al., 2009), but sex
offenders were excluded from the study. Renzema and Mayo-Wilson (2005) concluded that all
studies to date of EM for moderate to high-risk populations were of insufficient quality and had
substantial limitations. According to Renzema and Mayo-Wilson (2005), these limitations
included that of the four studies that used randomized controlled trials, only two considered
recidivism as a variable, a lack of cost comparisons to its value compared to other crime
supressing tools, poorly implemented human surveillance (i.e., face-to-face contact with a

19

probation officer), and insufficient treatment integrity. Notwithstanding the noted
methodological weaknesses, the studies demonstrated some very promising results that
suggested the need for further, more rigorous studies.
Several studies included costs in the analysis. It was noted that while the cost of EM is
one-sixth the cost of incarceration, where a sentence of community supervision is involved, the
costs of EM must be considered additive costs, given that incarceration was not an option.
These costs range from $3,800 per year to $9,000 per year per offender (Payne et al., 2008;
Plecas et al., 2014). Payne et al. (2008) also concluded that the research had not demonstrated
that GPS monitoring would reduce sexual assaults in a cost-effective manner (Payne, 2008). This
begs the question of what the value is of a sexual assault being prevented, which was not
quantified, so it is hard to understand how this conclusion was reached, except by comparison to
other strategies. For example, in the United States, it has been calculated that the total cost to
society of one sexual assault (in 2000 U.S. dollars) was $369,739.00 (McCollister, French, &
Fang, 2010). Given that the estimations were based on comprehensive data that included the
cost of illness to society, among other tangible and intangible effects, the research is compelling.
In Canada, the financial victim impact alone of a serious sexual assault, not including other costs,
such as to the justice system, has been estimated at $116,509 (Easton, Furness, & Brantingham,
2014). Incorporating these sorts of broader financial analyses might well change the conclusion
that EM is not cost effective for reducing sexual assaults, particularly if the more difficult to
quantify long-lasting human impacts are given sufficient weight. Notably, an evaluation of the
Washington, D.C. program found that $3,800 in societal benefits can be realized from the
average number of arrests prevented per participant (Plecas, Bass, Bemister, Busson, &
Dandurand, 2014).

20

In Scotland, an extensive evaluation of pilot projects experimenting with EM as a
condition of bail as an alternative to remand, and as an element of post-sentence release,
produced mixed results. The research concluded that EM was relatively efficient, but that the
outcomes were not persuasive. There were positive outcomes, which included greater offender
control and increased family and social contacts. However, there was a lack of support from
corrections professionals as offenders appeared to have been disadvantaged in terms of time
spent on bail and the length of custodial sentences, perceptions of public safety were not
increased, and there was no significant reduction in the remanded population of offenders
(Scottish Executive Social Research, 2007).
In Florida, a study involving over 75,000 offenders found that EM reduced the risk of
reoffending, including absconding, by 31% (Padgett, Bales, & Blomberg, 2006). This study
appears to have been the first to be methodologically rigorous. Professor Yeh at the University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis described Padgett’s research as the first to include “time-varying
independent variables as well as ‘time to failure’ in the estimation of maximum-likelihood
coefficients (2010, p. 1091). Yeh further noted that no study of EM before Padgett’s controlled
for such a broad selection of variables, noting that Padgett had controlled for 62 independent
factors, nor involved such a large sample (2015; 2010). Yeh concluded that, based on Padgett’s
research, 94.7% of crimes typically committed by parolees and probationers could be prevented
with EM. He suggested there was strong evidence for implementation of a major increase in the
use of EM that could transform criminal justice in the United States. For example, Yeh (2015)
calculated that EM and home detention could prevent almost 800,000 crimes every year in the
United States. These crimes would include over 82,000 murders and manslaughters, 73,000
sexual assaults, and over 191,000 robberies, with a value to society of over $480 billion,

21

providing a return on investment of over 12 to one (Yeh, 2015). Of note, there have not been any
rebuttals of his conclusions in the literature, and Yeh claimed that no studies, as of 2015, had
refuted Padgett’s conclusion that “the best available empirical evaluation of the impact of EM
indicates that EM deters 94.7% of all repeat crime” and that “EM works equally well for all
types of serious offenders” (Padgett, Bales, & Blomberg, 2006, p. 83 cited in Yeh, 2015, p. 64).
Another study in California specifically examined the use of EM with high risk sex
offenders. The study involved 516 subjects equally divided between treatment and control
groups. It was determined that offenders monitored with GPS were one-third as likely to commit
a sex offence as compared to those monitored with traditional parole supervision. Further, the
likelihood of any arrest was more than twice as high for those not monitored by GPS. Finally, the
likelihood of having parole revoked was approximately 38% higher for those monitored with
traditional parole supervision, rather than GPS (Gies et al., 2012). The GPS program cost about
$35.96 per day per offender. The cost of traditional supervision was $27.45 per day per parolee,
about $8.51 less, but the return on investment was that the GPS group performed significantly
better than the control group with respect to noncompliance with conditions and in terms of
committing new offences. The GPS monitoring program was more expensive, but was also more
effective.
In Washington, D.C., research concluded that, on average, EM reduced arrest by 24% for
subjects. In effect, it would have prevented at least one arrest 84% of the time in one year of an
EM initiative with 800 subjects, with a value of about $1,500 to local and federal agencies and
$3,800 in societal benefits per offender monitored on EM. The average net benefit per offender
would be $4,600 per year (DCCPI, 2012). The research further noted that the number of crimes
prevented, rather than arrests prevented, must be considered to properly estimate the benefits to

22

society. Finally, in this research, Bayesian simulations were utilized to run a hypothetical
program with 800 subjects, repeated 4,000 times. The results were that the smaller the program,
the greater the likelihood that it will be found not to be cost-effective, and that 800 was the
minimum number of subjects required to minimize that risk (DCCPI, 2012). This analysis is
certainly consistent with research commented by Plecas et al. (2014) on a Correctional Service
Canada pilot described below.
In Canada, EM programs operating between 1995 and 1997 in three provinces were
evaluated. There was evidence that offenders were more likely to complete a community
sentence without committing an offence, but the effect on long term recidivism was questionable
(Bonta et al., 2000). In 2008, Correctional Service Canada conducted a pilot project, also with
mixed results, but these were attributed to methodological problems, including inadequate
vetting of vendors and too small a number of subjects to be economical (Plecas et al., 2014).
In 2012, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security
chaired by Member of Parliament Kevin Sorenson conducted a study of EM in correctional and
immigration settings (Parliament of Canada, 2012). It concluded that the research on EM was
mixed, but that it had significant potential to complement other methods of community
supervision. The Committee made seven recommendations to support further exploration of the
potential to integrate EM into already existing strategies for supervision. The Government of
Canada responded to the report and noted that the Correctional Service Canada would conduct
another pilot project in 2013, and acknowledged the importance of integrating EM with other
risk management and offender supervision tools (Parliament of Canada, N.D.; Correctional
Service Canada, 2013). Of note, the three-year pilot did not actually begin until 2015 and is
scheduled to be assessed in 2018 (CBC.ca, 2015).

23

In Winnipeg, Canada, GPS tracking was piloted from 2010 to 2012 by being incorporated
into an already existing multi-pronged strategy to reduce very high rates of auto theft and related
high-profile crimes, such as high speed vehicle chases, some of which resulted in deaths. The
pilot was focused on young offenders subjected to a joint monitoring project by the Winnipeg
Police Service and probation services (Willoughby & Nellis, 2016). This project is an excellent
example of how politics and not research sometimes drives criminal justice policy and initiatives,
given that neither the police nor probation officials were looking for an additional tool and were
already quite successful in reducing car thefts. According to Willoughby and Nellis (2016), the
provincial NDP government was being pressured by the opposition Progressive Conservatives to
take stronger anti-crime measures. As a result, the provincial Justice Minister, David Chomiak,
made it clear that no evidence of efficacy would be necessary for the technology to be
implemented:
We are not at the point where we can say it’s a 100% solution. After next year we’ll have
a conclusion about the continued utilization of it. We will be utilizing it, the only
question is to what extent and where we’re going to use it (Winnipeg Free Press, 2009,
cited by Willoughby & Nellis, 2016).

In this project, it seems there was a solution in search of a problem, given that the police and
probation services were already demonstrating success in managing high-risk young offenders.
As a result, the politically motivated implementation of EM was somewhat compromised from
the beginning. Not only did some staff believe it was interfering with the therapeutic,
rehabilitative approach in which inconsequential breaches were criminalized, they resented the
additional work, such as necessary training and writing additional reports for minor breaches
because of a zero tolerance policy (Willoughby & Nellis, 2016). Nevertheless, many of the
offenders and staff believed EM was effective. In a subsequent evaluation, it was determined that

24

the addition of EM to an already successful program yielded small, but real improvements to
reducing offending (Pearson, 2012).
What is clear from multiple evaluations is that EM is used for a wide variety of offender
monitoring purposes, including pre-trial bail monitoring, as an alternative to incarceration for
probationers who breach conditions, and for parole supervision, but with a lack of attention paid
to what purposes EM is best suited and for which it is most effective. Further, it is not always
recognized that EM is not a panacea, and that it is most effective when used in combination with
other forms of supervision and supports for offenders (Graham & McIvor, 2015).

Discussion
The highest quality and most recent research has demonstrated that EM using RF and
GPS technology in tandem can effectively reduce the risk posed by high-risk sex offenders when
properly implemented. As described earlier, there have been criticisms of the use of EM for sex
offenders where it has not been demonstrated that they are predatory and dangerous. This major
paper proposes expanding the use of modern EM for a small, specific group of high-risk sex
offenders, namely, those offenders who are assessed as too dangerous to be considered for parole
or statutory release and so served their full sentence. This small subset of convicted sex offenders
has been shown to be far more likely to commit a new offence than those released on parole.
EM, including the use of GPS, provides another tool to reduce the significant risk posed by WED
sex offenders, who must be released, and for whom incarceration is not an option. In the United
States, legislation in 20 states provides for civil commitment of dangerous sexual offenders,
allowing them to be incarcerated in a mental institution indefinitely (ATSA, 2010), but no such
option exists in Canada. It is unlikely such a regime could exist in Canada given the existence of
the Dangerous Offender and Long-Term Offender regimes. Moreover, it is highly questionable
25

whether someone who displays predatory behaviour or traits of psychopathy could be considered
mentally ill without turning on its head our understanding of mental illness in the forensic
context in Canada.
Specifically, in Canada, the “not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder”
(NCMRD) scheme in the Criminal Code requires that the subject be so mentally ill as to not
appreciate the nature and consequences of their act and to understand that it is morally wrong (s.
16(1)). Further, to be certified under the civil regime in each province typically requires that a
person be suffering from a serious mental disorder and be in need of protection or be a danger to
others, as is required in the British Columbia Mental Health Act (s. 22(3) and s. 28). It would be
impossible to square this understanding of mental illness with the civil commitment regimes
used in some jurisdictions in the United States to incarcerate predatory sex offenders. Therefore,
unless an offender is incarcerated pursuant to a determinate or indeterminate sentence,
community supervision is the only strategy available, pursuant to an order under ss. 810.1 or
810.2 of the Criminal Code.
The net-widening and additive costs of EM are cited as negative effects of such
programs. To the first issue, with WED sex offenders bound by s. 810 orders, there would be no
net-widening as they are already being supervised pursuant to their orders, but traditional means
of supervision, such as sporadic checks by corrections officers and police and daily reporting, do
not provide the benefits of real-time tracking via GPS, in terms of deterrence, monitoring, and
prevention. With GPS monitoring, exclusion and inclusion zones can be enforced and a rapid
response by police may very well prevent an offence, and such a response itself creates a
deterrent effect (IACP, 2008).

26

With respect to cost, the use of GPS technology is relatively inexpensive and can be used
very efficiently. For example, in Edmonton, monitoring costs have been reduced by
subcontracting them to a private monitoring company that can provide the service more
inexpensively than unionized corrections staff (Sierra Systems, 2014). In B.C., that work has
been done by a unit staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by unionized B.C. Corrections
staff. Further, until 2015, B.C. Corrections used equipment provided on a contract basis that is
far more costly than what is available in the market today, totalling almost 500,000 dollars
annually, not including staff costs (Sierra Systems, 2014).
Cost-benefit analyses in the research literature routinely failed to consider several
important factors. First, there was almost no analysis of the costs to individuals, families, and
communities of being victimized by a violent criminal offence, although a study in Washington,
D.C. did quantify some benefits. Yet, according to one major Canadian study, the effect of crime
on victims, including the fear of crime, the value of stolen and damaged goods, negative health
impacts, and loss of productivity account for more than half the $85 billion total cost of crime in
Canada (Easton, Furness, & Brantingham, 2014). Attempting to quantify the impact of crimes,
like sex offences, raises the question of how some impacts (e.g., fear of crime) can be monetized;
however, to drive policy change in government, economic arguments may be the most
compelling. Second, when it comes to the worst sex offenders, such as Raymond Caissie, the
cost of close physical monitoring is very high, but the capacity is low. A single police
surveillance team, such as B.C.’s Integrated Sexual Predator Observation Team (ISPOT) costs
approximately $2 million dollars per year to field, based on the latest government data available

27

(PSSG, 2017), 1 and it can only monitor one offender at a time. Such police costs, not to mention
the cost of investigating and prosecuting crimes that could have been prevented by effective
offender monitoring, were not addressed in the reviewed literature. Furthermore, should a WED
offender reoffend, the incarceration costs would surpass the costs associated with EM. On
average, in 2013-2014, the institutional expenditure was about $298 per day for federal offenders
(Statistics Canada, 2015).
Regarding the effect on offenders, the devices themselves are small and can be worn
covertly, and offenders themselves typically do not object to them. Several studies have
demonstrated that offenders understand that wearing the devices may help them avoid
reoffending and being returned to prison, and so view it as a deterrent (Willoughby & Nellis,
2016; Payne & Gainey, 1999). Real-time tracking provides a powerful investigative tool to
incriminate or exculpate a subject regarding a crime, and can also provide an early warning that
an offender is engaged in behaviour that puts him at risk for reoffending, such as prowling
behaviour, making contact with other sex offenders, and going to areas where illicit drugs are
commonly sold (Vieira, 2005). In addition to discouraging reoffending, offenders’ knowledge
that they are monitored and that they would be caught if they reoffend may have another
advantage in that they may seek counselling, psychological help, or other resources that they
may not have sought out otherwise, to assist in their rehabilitation efforts.

Criminological Theories Relevant to Electronic Monitoring
EM should be considered an intrusive technology, particularly when it is additive (i.e., an
addition to other post-custody conditions), rather than an alternative to incarceration, and the

1

Based on the total average reported cost of $200,000 per year to field a Provincially assigned RCMP member, the
approximate cost to field the 10-officer Integrated Sexual Predator Observation Team would be $2 million per year
for salaries and benefits, fleet, equipment, and overtime.

28

broad societal impacts should be considered. Further, examination of the use of EM within the
context of relevant criminological theories should be part of the analysis. For the purposes of this
major paper, deterrence, rational choice, and labelling will be applied in the context of EM
programs.
A primary aim of offender management strategies is deterrence, and “deterrence theory
has been the underlying foundation for many criminal justice policies and practices” since the
writings of Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham (Tomlinson, 2016, p. 33). Deterrence theory
asserts, among other things, that the punishment must be proportionate to the crime, that it
happens expeditiously, and that there must be certainty in punishment for there to be a deterrent
effect (Tomlinson, 2016). Recent research suggests that prisoners who experience imprisonment
as highly severe punishment are less likely to commit offences following release, but that when
other confounding variables such as offence type and number of prior convictions are controlled
for, the effect disappears (Raaijmakers et al., 2017). Further, it is clear that whatever deterrent
effect may result from punishment, it cannot be said that it works the same for every individual,
particularly given that many crimes are not detected (Paternoster, 2010). Where EM is
concerned, there can be a high level of confidence that a breach of conditions or a new crime will
be detected and can be punished if appropriate, as not every breach needs to be punished. So,
while the punishment itself may not create a deterrent, the certainty of being apprehended may
create its own deterrent effect.
A theory that likely has far more relevance to the implementation of EM with offenders is
Rational Choice Theory. This theory is premised on a belief that individuals have free will and
will avoid costs, e.g., punishment, including loss of freedom, and that the costs will be weighed
against the perceived benefits of the desired behaviour, i.e., committing crimes to satisfy

29

personal desires (Steele, 2016). Based on Rational Choice Theory, offenders will choose crime
targets to achieve their objectives in ways that can be seen as explainable by others, i.e.,
observers can understand that a thief will steal because he desires an object he cannot otherwise
acquire (Eck & Weisburd, 2015); however, Eck and Weisburd (2015) also noted that if viewed
from the perspective of the offender, their behaviour is always rational, making testing of the
rational choice theory challenging. In any case, given the high likelihood of a new crime
committed by an offender subject to EM being solved, and that offender being punished,
Rational Choice Theory would suggest that offenders will be positively affected by EM in terms
of reducing the likelihood of recidivism. This may help explain why the large and rigorous study
conducted by Padgett, Bales, and Blomberg (2006) demonstrated such a significant reduction in
offending by offenders subject to EM versus those who were not. For those offenders who are
capable of controlling their urges, there was a great disincentive to breach conditions, abscond,
or commit new crimes while subjected to EM.
Labelling theory suggests that criminals engage in unlawful acts because of either formal
or informal labelling as criminals based on early deviant behaviour (Bruinsma, 2016). No theory
of crime provides a complete explanation for criminal behaviour or for the behaviour of any
particular offender (Bruinsma, 2016), and Labelling Theory appears to be a weaker theory,
compared to, for example, Rational Choice Theory in explaining crime generally (Bruinsma,
2016). Nevertheless, the effect of an offender being subject to EM must be considered, given the
stigma of wearing a visible EM device. It seems counterintuitive to propose that an offender
labelled as a criminal by wearing an EM device is going to commit more crime, but it may make
him more resentful or angry, thus possibly increasing the likelihood of recidivism once the EM
device is removed. Payne and DeMichele have suggested that some sex offenders will resent the

30

stigma created by wearing an EM device and react badly, even violently, which the authors
referred to as “the brutalization effect” (2011, p. 182). However, in a large study by Padget et al.,
(2006), this hypothesis was not supported. In any case, an EM device is a relatively minor
inconvenience, and can easily be concealed, although obviously certain activities (e.g.,
swimming, sports where shorts are worn) would be effected. But, weighed against the
demonstrated potential to reduce serious and violent offending, on balance, it is hard to conclude
that labelling an offender by imposing an EM device is sufficient reason to preclude it as an
option, particularly given that it has been shown to deter offenders in committing further crimes
and suffering the consequences. In considering all three relevant theories, Rational Choice
theory makes the strongest case for EM: offenders subject to EM will know that there is a high
level of certainty that if they commit new offences or breach conditions meant to protect the
public (e.g., not to go to a certain location), their offences will be detected and punished. As
long as the “cost” of committing offences exceeds the benefit to the offender, Rational Choice
theory suggests offenders will be deterred.

The Future of Electronic Monitoring in Canada
Correctional Service Canada is currently in the second year of a three-year pilot project
using up to 300 EM devices (CBC.ca, 2015). In addition, in the wake of Serena Vermeersch’s
tragic murder, Attorney General Suzanne Anton, in response to questions about why EM had not
been requested for Caissie, and why there had been such a dramatic reduction in offenders being
monitored by EM over the last five years in B.C., conceded that B.C. could improve its use of
EM (CBC.ca, 2014).
In May 2015, the B.C. Ministry of Justice issued a request for proposals to replace its
existing equipment with modern EM devices to monitor offenders in B.C. subject to court31

ordered electronic supervision. The government sought a three-year lease agreement with
devices to be provided to 50 Community Corrections offices in year one of the contract. Notably,
the government invited proponents to propose an alarm monitoring service (BC, 2015). In
August 2015, the government made good on its commitment and announced it had selected a
U.K. company, Buddi Ltd., as the successful proponent for a new electronic supervision
program. The new program would include hybrid RF/GPS capabilities, allowing for no-go zones,
so that an alarm would be triggered in the central monitoring unit if the offender travelled into a
restricted zone. This will permit a priority response from police to stop the offender from
committing an offence. Further, the new technology will provide for collection of client location
information, vibration alerts directly to the client, and increased mapping and reporting
capabilities. The new EM tools would be used in combination with home visits and curfew
checks by police and Corrections staff. The government committed to fully implementing the
new program by November 2015 (B.C., 2015). In January 2016, it was reported that B.C.
Corrections had begun implementing the new GPS-based EM equipment in December 2015 and,
by January 2016, there were 43 subjects being supervised electronically (Talmazan, 2016).
Solicitor General Mike Morris reported that, unlike previously when EM was only used for lowrisk offenders, it was now being used for those offenders who required a high level of
supervision. He conceded that with the previous RF equipment, “if they left [home], we’d have
no idea where they were” (Talmazan, 2016). To date, the B.C. government has not published any
analysis of the effectiveness of its new EM program (not unexpectedly, given how new the
program is), or any evaluation plans.

32

The Use of GPS-EM to Reduce the Risk of Terrorism
Peace bonds under s. 810 of the Criminal Code have been in use for many years in
Canada. As described earlier, they are used to impose conditions on offenders in the community
where there are reasonable grounds for believing they will commit a violent crime (s. 810.1), or
where there are reasonable grounds to believe they will commit a sexual offence against a child
(s. 810.2). Peace bonds have also been used for many years where a person has a reasonable fear
for their or another person’s safety or their property (s. 810), and are used by police to intervene
in domestic violence situations (Department of Justice, 2015). Peace bonds are not a criminal
charge, just a mechanism to bring a person before a court and have preventative conditions
imposed, but breaching those conditions is a criminal offence under s. 811 of the Criminal Code.
After the terrorist attacks using hijacked airliners in New York City and Washington D.C.
on September 11, 2001, the Government of Canada successfully introduced Bill C-36, the Antiterrorism Act (Department of Justice, 2016). One element of the Anti-terrorism Act was to create
a process under then s. 810.01 to impose a peace bond on terrorism suspects, where the Attorney
General consented, if “a person fears on reasonable grounds that another person will commit a
terrorism offence.” While the new legislation was similar to other peace bonds in that it provided
for any reasonable conditions, it also specifically provided for imposing a requirement to wear an
electronic monitoring device (s. 810.01(6)(b)). Other jurisdictions have also implemented such a
measure. For example, in Britain, EM can be imposed on those subject to the Terrorism
Prevention and Investigation Measure (TPIM) program, introduced in 2011 (GOV.UK, 2016). In
2012, only weeks before the Summer Olympics were to begin in London, one accused terrorist
was taken into custody when his GPS bracelet showed he had come closer than he was allowed
to London’s Olympic Park (LiveViewGPS, 2012).
33

A series of reviews of the Canadian legislation occurred beginning in 2004, but changes
to the legislation did not affect the peace bond provision (Department of Justice, 2015). In 2015,
the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness introduced Bill C-51, which created
new anti-terrorism legislation and amended the Criminal Code and other related Acts. The bill
received royal assent on June 18, 2015 (Department of Justice, 2016). Notably, s. 810.01 was
amended to become s. 810.011 and the standard of fearing that a person “will” commit a
terrorism offence was reduced to one of fearing that a person “may” commit a terrorism offence.
This lowering of the threshold provoked concern from, among others, the B.C. Civil Liberties
Association who described the amendments as making a troubling regime worse, asserting that
“innocent people could be arrested and detained on mere suspicion of future dangerousness
(BCCLA, 2015, p. 15). The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG, N.D.) also
raised similar concerns.
Craig Forcese, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, argued that peace bonds were
a good thing in principle, noting the standard of proof for police was lower and defendants will
usually consent to their imposition, but also suggested the effect on liberty interests is of concern
if the tool is not used judiciously (Forcese, 2016). A stated goal of Bill C-51 was to make it
easier for police to obtain peace bonds against terrorism suspects (Department of Justice, 2015),
and that does seem to have been the outcome. As the National Post described, “Since July 2015,
when changes to Canada’s anti-terrorism laws made it easier to obtain terrorism peace bonds,
police have sought them from the courts in 11 cases” (Bell, 2016). It should be noted; however,
particularly with respect to the BCCLA’s assertions about “mere suspicion,” that the legislation
still requires “reasonable grounds,” which is a threshold Canadian courts have made clear is
higher than both the lower thresholds in Canadian law of “mere suspicion” and “reasonable

34

suspicion,” (R. v. Kang-Brown, 2008). Therefore, notwithstanding the effect of changing the
section to require reasonable grounds to believe an offender “may” commit a terrorism offence,
rather than the previous “will,” police are still required to meet a relatively significant threshold.
Since the creation of this new peace bond provision, it has been utilized on numerous
occasions, typically with a condition of wearing an electronic monitoring device imposed, among
others. According to Professor Forcese (2016), as of April 2016, the Department of Justice had
successfully applied for approximately 16 terrorism peace bonds. By December 2016, a National
Post reporter, who has written regularly on terrorism issues, reported on the 19th occasion; a
terrorism peace bond had been implemented against suspected extremists (Bell, December 14,
2016).
Based on media reports, it appears that the majority of terrorism suspects placed on
810.011 peace bonds, including ones with a GPS tracker requirement, successfully complete the
term and the peace bond is allowed to expire (Forcese, 2016). However, there are several
examples that demonstrate the reasonableness of the concerns that led to the application in the
first place. For example, Tevis Gonyou-McLean, a young man with a history of mental health
and drug issues (Bell, 2017), was arrested on a peace bond warrant in August 2016 and released
on 27 conditions, including wearing a GPS ankle bracelet and not communicating with five
people linked to terrorism activities (Bell, 2016; Bell, 2017). But, within months, GonyouMcLean had been re-arrested for four breaches of the recognizance he had been released on
pending his peace bond hearing (Dimmock, 2017). On January 6, he pleaded guilty to two of the
breaches, including damaging the GPS bracelet he had been ordered to wear, and, several weeks
later, when his peace bond hearing on the original allegations was heard, Gonyou-McLean

35

agreed to abide by the conditions sought by the prosecutor, and the peace bond was imposed
(Bell, 2017).
Ironically, Gonyou-McLean was originally arrested because he made threats to avenge
the death two days earlier of another terrorism suspect on a peace bond, Aaron Driver. Driver
had initially been released on a recognizance with a GPS bracelet requirement, and 25 other
conditions, but the GPS condition was dropped when the peace bond was imposed. Civil liberties
organizations were reportedly outraged by bail conditions being imposed for someone who was
not charged with a crime (CBC.ca, 2016). Driver was killed by police as he was leaving his
home to commit a terrorist bombing and actually set off an explosive device in the taxi that had
picked him up (Pedwell, 2016), although a more larger explosive device did not detonate (Bell,
2016).
There are several ways to look at the Driver case, in terms of the effectiveness of the
peace bond process and the GPS bracelet requirement. First, given the outcome, Driver clearly
was a legitimate target for preventative measures. But, police did not arrive at his home because
of information from the GPS; rather, Driver posted online a disturbing video claiming he was
going to detonate a bomb in an urban centre in Canada that day. The challenge was that he was
wearing a balaclava, exposing only his eyes and a portion of his face for comparison against
known suspects. The Federal Bureau of Investigation viewed the video and immediately notified
the RCMP. Because Driver was on a list of the known highest risk suspects (i.e., those who had
risen to the threshold of being subject to a peace bond application), the RCMP were quickly able
to narrow it down to Driver, and intercepted him as he was leaving his home only three hours
after the Canada-wide alert from the FBI (Pedwell, 2016). It is extremely fortunate that the
RCMP found Driver at home, as had he already left on his murderous mission, they would have

36

had no way to track him. Had he been wearing a GPS tracker, it is reasonable to assume that it
would have been of great help in confirming his identity and location, and may well have saved
lives. This begs the question of the effect of him removing it, but the technology is such that that
would have immediately created a notification and his last location would have been known.
Further, there are now GPS bracelets that are extremely difficult to remove since they
incorporate cabling in the strap (Tully, Hearn, & Fahy, 2014).

Emerging Uses of EM Technology for Crime Solving
GPS has created the potential for novel strategies in and out of the criminal justice
system. For example, it is currently technologically possible to harness the data provided by
offender GPS tracking data and engage in a form of data matching with other technologies. GPS
tracking data could potentially be used to overlay spatial and temporal data about crimes to
develop suspects (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2009). That is, if GPS data indicated that a
suspect was at the location of a crime in the time window it was believed to have occurred, that
would be a highly efficient method to develop a suspect pool. Of course, there would have to be
sufficient offenders being tracked to make the strategy viable, but the research suggests that
many jurisdictions are seeking to increase their use of GPS-EM to track offenders. This strategy
is already being explored in at least one jurisdiction. In Washington, D.C., the Court Services
and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia use GPS to monitor its highestrisk offenders, and works with the D.C. Metropolitan Police to determine if any crimes match
offender GPS location data, and also to eliminate offenders on EM as suspects in crimes under
investigation (CSOSA, 2011; CSOSA, 2015).
In addition, this strategy could be used in conjunction with other sources of data, such as
cross-referencing information from Automated Licence Plate Readers, a technology that is
37

already being used extensively and with success in many jurisdictions, most notably in the
United Kingdom (Cohen, Plecas, & McCormick, 2007), where CCTV recordings from public
and private sources is also being integrated into data available for use by police (Roberts &
Casanova, 2012). Further, in those jurisdictions that make extensive use of government CCTV,
such as London, England specifically, and the U.K. generally, GPS tracking data could be
compared against video from CCTV to create potential multiple sources of evidence for crime
solving purposes. In Britain, with around six million CCTV cameras in public spaces
(Associated Press, 2015), CCTV has already demonstrated itself to be a powerful crime solving
tool, playing a role in solving seven out of 10 murders. In fact, of the 90 murder investigations in
the sample, the murder itself was captured on CCTV in 65 cases (The Telegraph, 2009). Adding
in GPS offender tracking data would be a powerful resource to identify an unknown offender
caught by CCTV near or at the crime scene.
Finally, facial recognition software is rapidly advancing in its sophistication and is used
in many jurisdictions, including Canada, where the technology is used by the Calgary Police
Service and Passport Canada (thestar.com, 2016). In a 2014 report, the National Institute of
Standards and Technology reported that the best facial recognition algorithm (made by company
NEC) was capable of correctly identifying an unknown subject in a database of 1.6 million
criminal mug shots over 95% of the time (Grother & Ngan, 2014). Facebook has reported that
“Deep Face,” its proprietary facial recognition software, has an accuracy rate of 97.25%,
regardless of lighting conditions, clothing, or hair styles, compared to the human accuracy rate of
97.53% (Chowhdry, 2014; Transportation Security Administration, 2017). The FBI’s National
Face Recognition System reportedly can search a database of 411 million photos (Kelly, 2016).
And, in 2014, it was reported that people were uploading and sharing 1.8 billion photos per day

38

using websites and apps (Edwards, 2014), creating a rich data resource for facial recognition
strategies.
For example, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University identified 31% of passersby on a
university campus by taking their photo and comparing it to publicly available social media
profiles using off-the-shelf facial recognition software (Edwards, 2014). According to Edwards
(2014), the same researchers identified one in ten users of an anonymous online dating website
by comparing profile photos from the dating website with photos available on social media sites
where the users were identified. Facial recognition technology offers another data matching
opportunity, notwithstanding the privacy implications that have raised many concerns (Office of
the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 2014). In B.C., for example, an Information and Privacy
Commissioner ruling determined that the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia was not
permitted to use its database of images and facial recognition to assist in the identification of
individuals suspected of participating in the 2011 Stanley Cup riots absent a warrant, subpoena,
or court order because assisting police investigations was not consistent with the purpose for
which the data was originally collected (BCIPC, 2012).
In operational policing, GPS tracking has been used on police cars for years for the
purposes of officer safety, and to ensure that the closest police unit is dispatched to emergencies.
As with any new technology introduced to policing, unions have generally sought policy
language that prevents the technology, whether it is in-car video or GPS, from being used for
random queries for potential disciplinary offences, arguing that it is counterproductive, a fishing
expedition and unfair. Moreover, unions are known to be vigilant about minimizing potential
increased jeopardy for their members. As introducing new technology affects workplace

39

conditions, unions have a legitimate interest in shaping their implementation. 2 Interestingly, GPS
tracking is even used by police managers during research into the efficacy of hot spot policing
strategies to ensure that police officers are visiting their assigned locations at the assigned times.

Uses of GPS-EM in Forensic Psychiatry
Although extremely rare, notorious cases of extreme violence involving mentally
disordered offenders provoke strong emotions in the public. For example, the case of Allan
Schoenborn, who was found “not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder”
(NCMRD) after killing his three children prompted great concern when he was approved for
escorted visits into the community (Canadian Press, 2015). In fact, his case was the catalyst for
the Conservative Government’s Bill C-54, the “Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act”
(CBC.ca, 2013; Dupuis, 2013), which was given royal assent in April 2014, and came into effect
July 10, 2014 (Government of Canada, 2014). It created the “high risk accused” designation
(section 672.64(1)) and required that a review board could not release a high-risk accused unless
the designation was revoked by a court, and increased the review periods from one year to three
years (Government of Canada, 2014). Notably, the Crown sought to designate Schoenborn a
high-risk accused in 2016. 3
More recently, the case of Vince Li, who has changed his name to Will Baker, attracted
considerable attention in the media when he was given an absolute discharge and released with
no conditions. Baker, who was suffering from untreated schizophrenia, stabbed to death,

2

The author has been directly involved in such policy discussions while a Deputy Chief in the Vancouver Police
Department between 2003 and 2016.
3
This hearing was still underway as of May 2016, but the writer has been unable to determine the verdict, find any
media reports after May 2016, or find a judgment in court records, other than a 2015 decision finding against
Schoenborn’s appeal that the high risk offender designation should not apply retroactively, and a related decision
that determined the legislation was constitutional.

40

decapitated, and cannibalized a young man, Tim Mclean, on a Greyhound bus in Alberta in 2008
and was found NCRMD in 2009. The victim’s family and Rona Ambrose, the interim leader of
the federal Opposition, both expressed great concern, particular because it appeared Baker would
be living near the victim’s mother (Malone, 2017).
From all accounts, it appears Baker was a model patient (Malone, 2017), but Schoenborn
has been the opposite, and had a history of violence in the community and 48 incidents of
violence during his incarceration after he killed his children (CBC.ca, 2016). Prior to the high
risk accused designation, the provincial review board had already granted him the right to
request escorted outings into the community, although none were granted after the Crown
cautioned that they would be seeking a high risk accused designation (Canadian Press, 2015). If
he is ever released into the community, GPS-EM might well provide a degree of protection to the
community. Further, it might provide comfort to the mother of his three murdered children who
expresses great fear of him and lives in the community he expressed a desire to visit (CBC.ca,
2016).
The psychiatric profession has already considered the utility of GPS monitoring as “part
of a comprehensive protocol for risk management and recovery” noting studies demonstrating
that GPS devices may improve public safety by notifying clinical staff immediately if patients
did not return when required or violated a condition (Tully, Hearn, & Fahy, 2014, p. 83).
According to Tully, Hearn, and Fahy (2014), GPS tracking has been experimented with in a
forensic psychiatric context since 2010, showing some positive outcomes in terms of increased
compliance with conditions, but suggesting more research was required. GPS tracking might be
one more tool for use with certain patients in the forensic psychiatric setting to support their
recovery, while improving compliance with conditions and enhancing public safety. Stigma and

41

privacy concerns would no doubt be raised if GPS monitoring was implemented for some
forensic psychiatric patients, as they have in the past regarding criminal offenders (John Howard
Society, 2000; Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 2014; BCCLA, 1998; BCCLA,
2015). These are justifiable arguments, but must be considered in context as society also has the
right to feel safe and be safe, and so a balance must be achieved. As stated in the minority
opinion written by then-Justice Charles Gonthier, in a landmark Supreme Court of Canada
decision on the issue:
I cannot accept that the preventive powers of Parliament under its criminal law
jurisdiction are so limited and that principles of fundamental justice require that the risks
arising from uncertainties in assessing the degrees of dangerousness must be entirely
borne by the public to the point that even the least onerous and restrictive measures to the
accused who is found to be dangerous cannot be ordered (Winko v. BCFPI, p. 713, 1999).

Uses of GPS-EM Beyond the Criminal Justice System
Location and tracking devices have been used for several years to deal with Alzheimer’s
patients who wander (Alzheimer Society Canada, 2017). A team at McMaster University
conducted research with a goal of supporting careful decision-making by individuals and
organizations serving those at risk of wandering, such as the Alzheimer Society of Canada, and
governments that might wish to fund or regulate such systems. They wrote a report to the
Ontario provincial government on electronic locating systems intended to help people with
challenges that lead to wandering and becoming lost, including developmental disabilities,
Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and autism (Baptiste, Steggles, Grochowina, &
LeBeau, 2006).
The research demonstrated that the safety of the person prone to wander was the primary
objective for potential clients and caregivers, and an expectation that the devices were
consistently and reliably able to locate a subject should they go missing or become lost. The
report concluded that there was no one device type that addressed all concerns, such as working
42

inside buildings, being small and comfortable, and being completely reliable for subjects and
their caregivers. Further, the research raised concerns that ethical and privacy concerns had not
been sufficiently considered, endorsing the view that there should be a decision-making
framework that would serve to protect the rights and interests of subjects, but also to ensure
fairness in the distribution of technological devices when they were demonstrably in the best
interests of the clients.
Interestingly, the research team noted that their ethical concerns were not necessarily
shared by a consumer panel, which emphasized the positive ethical impacts of the technology,
including peace of mind and to the potential to increase independence (Baptiste, Steggles,
Grochowina, & LeBeau, 2006). This is consistent with the views of the Alzheimer Society of
Canada, which noted that people with dementia should have the opportunity to travel and
experience as much independence as possible, but that there was a need to consider the delicate
balance between independence and safety (Alzheimer Society of Canada, 2017). Another
common cognitive disability is autism, and various GPS devices (wristbands, key fobs, etc.) have
also been proposed to help find individuals with autism who wander, as well as children with
special needs (Autism Speaks, 2017).
GPS devices have also been strongly marketed to parents to keep track of their children
who do not have any cognitive disabilities. For example, a Google search of “GPS and children”
reveals approximately 70,000 hits, with multiple websites discussing and marketing devices,
ostensibly to provide peace of mind to parents. But, concerns have been raised about the impact
on children’s privacy, and a fear that children will become inured to constant surveillance
(Kobie, 2016). Notwithstanding the appeal to some parents, it is clear technology cannot
completely protect children, and that they are not a substitute for good parenting, including

43

teaching how to make good decisions, exercise independence, and enjoy the freedoms of
childhood.

Recommendations
One of the barriers to conducting a successful evaluation of the Corrections Service Canada
(CSC) 2008-2011 EM pilot was that the consent of the offenders was required (House of
Commons Committees – SECU 41-1, N.D.). That matter was addressed by the 2012 enactment
of the Safe Streets and Communities Act (S.C., 2012, c. 1). This Act provides for imposing EM
on prisoners on temporary absence or work release, parole, statutory release, and long-term
supervision, and CSC has detailed policies and procedures in place to manage the program in a
lawful and reasonable manner that is respectful of Canadian privacy laws (CSC, 2016). Given
this, CSC should continue with its ongoing evaluation of EM, ensuring that there is sufficient
capacity (i.e., EM equipment and staff to monitor) to ensure a robust evaluation is possible,
noting research that suggests a minimum of 800 subjects is required to ensure cost-effectiveness 4
(DCCPI, 2012).
The Criminal Code also provides for EM to be imposed on violent and sexual predators
who have completed their sentences, but are bound by s. 810.1 and s. 810.2 orders. These are
extremely high-risk offenders who did not qualify for either parole or statutory release, yet they
do not fall under CSC’s jurisdiction and, therefore, cannot be included in CSC’s current EM
three-year pilot. Rather, the local police agencies in the jurisdictions in which these most
dangerous offenders reside are responsible for seeking s. 810.1 and s. 810. 2 orders. In B.C.,
provincial Corrections staff are responsible for monitoring all offenders bound by EM. The 2016

4

Of concern, the CSC pilot only involves 300 subjects (CBC.ca, 2015).

44

initiative in B.C. to move to GPS-based EM for such offenders provides an excellent opportunity
to craft a well-designed pilot project, subject it to an evaluability process to ensure that the
impact can be credibly measured, implement the pilot, and conduct a rigorous evaluation. The
overarching goal of EM for this group of offenders must be to enhance public safety. It is
important that sufficient capacity exists to monitor a large number of offenders. As well, there
must be coordination between police services, Crown, and provincial corrections to ensure police
are recommending EM in appropriate cases in Reports to Crown Counsel, and that Crown
counsel is requesting EM at 810.1 and 810.2 hearings. It is unknown what systems are in place in
provincial corrections, but regarding coordination with police and Crown, a coordinated and
systemic approach involving police, Crown and Corrections is not yet in place. 5 Further, this
effort should provide the basis for a national strategy.
Therefore, the Ministry of Police Safety and Solicitor General, and the Ministry of
Attorney General, should create a cross-ministerial committee comprising senior officials from
Police, Crown, and Corrections to consult and collaborate on implementing and evaluating EM
to maximize its efficacy, as well as opportunities to fund increased EM capacity though
reductions in incarceration costs. Further, a Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group should
be created to develop a best practice model with a goal of implementing it consistently across
Canada to use EM on WED offenders bound by 810.1 and 810.2 orders. This will build on the
work of the National Joint Committee of Senior Justice Officials (Pacific Region) in developing
its Interagency Manual on the Investigation, Prosecution, and Correctional Management of

5

The author is the co-chair – with the Assistant Deputy Attorney General – of the B.C. Crown Police Liaison
Committee and has received no communications from the Provincial Government regarding EM. Further, the
author is a member of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police and there has not yet been any outreach from B.C.
Corrections or others in the Provincial Government regarding its new EM capacity, despite the BCACP having a
High Risk Offender Subcommittee.

45

Dangerous and Long-term Offenders (NJC, 2005), and the report of its international meeting of
experts entitled Enhancing Community Protection in the Release of the Detained Offender –
Inter-jurisdictional & Inter-agency Issues and Resolutions (NJC, 2006). The “FPT Heads of
Prosecutions Committee” provides a model for such a committee. 6
There are other potential uses for EM in the criminal justice system. For example, Indigenous
persons are not only grossly overrepresented in the criminal justice system (Rudin, N.D.;
Brzozowski, Taylor-Butts & Johnson, 2006), they are far more likely than other offenders to be
detained without bail (CCLA, 2014). According to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
(2014), this is often not because of dangerousness, but because of a history of failing to abide by
bail conditions and/or appearing in court, often caused by issues of marginalization, addiction,
and poverty. One of the many undesirable consequences of the higher likelihood that an
Aboriginal offender will be detained awaiting trial is that there is evidence that such offenders
are pleading guilty to offences of which they are factually innocent (Roach, 2015; Macdonald,
2016). EM should be considered as an alternative to incarceration for Aboriginal offenders who
are not detained without bail because of dangerousness. Therefore, the provincial Attorneys
General should examine the viability of EM as an option to detention pending trial to reduce the
number of detained Aboriginal persons for reasons other than dangerousness to address the
overrepresentation of Aboriginal persons among those detained awaiting trial, which produces
harmful results, including the danger of guilty pleas by Aboriginal persons with a viable defence
or who are factually innocent.

6

“The Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Heads of Prosecutions Committee's has a role in coordinating many
aspects of criminal law practice across Canada, including promoting the assistance and cooperation among
different prosecution services and facilitating the coordination and adoption, where possible, of a consistent
position on national prosecution issues.” http://www.ppsc-sppc.gc.ca/eng/tra/is/cor-cds.html#section9_7

46

If consideration is given to new EM initiatives in the federal or provincial spheres of
responsibility (i.e., beyond the lawful initiatives already in place, such as the current CSC pilot),
a balanced approach must be taken to ensure individual privacy matters are considered. In
addition to consulting with criminal justice system players, the federal and provincial privacy
commissioners and other stakeholders (e.g., John Howard Society and Elizabeth Fry Society,
prisoners’ ombudspersons) should be consulted to help inform decisions and protect against
unnecessary net widening or intrusiveness. In addition, the federal and provincial governments
should consider the Recommendation of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to
member States in Europe on electronic monitoring adopted in 2014 (Committee of Ministers,
2014).
The 40 recommended rules contemplate the use of EM in several circumstances, including
the following:
a. During the pre-trial phase of criminal proceedings;
b. As a condition for suspending or of executing a prison sentence;
c. As a stand-alone means of supervising the execution of a criminal sanction or
measure in the community;
d. In the framework of conditional release from prison;
e. As an intensive guidance and supervision measure for certain types of offenders
after release from prison; and
f. as a means for protecting specific crime victims from individual suspects or
offenders (Nellis & Lehner, 2014).
Further, the adopted rules set overarching policies to ensure that when EM is used, it is
combined with interventions to support rehabilitation and reduce recidivism. The policies are

47

designed to ensure that the use of EM should not be greater than required in any individual case,
considering the seriousness of the offence and the risk to the community posed by the individual
(Nellis & Lehner, 2014). Therefore, to ensure an appropriate policy framework is in place for
any new EM initiatives in Canada in the criminal justice system, a Federal/Provincial/Territorial
Committee should be created to develop such a framework, using the Council of Europe’s
Committee of Ministers well-informed recommendations as a basis. The “FPT Heads of
Prosecutions Committee” provides a model for such a committee.

Conclusion
There is a comprehensive legal regime in Canada to manage high-risk sex offenders,
including indeterminate sentences for those declared “Dangerous Offenders,” and Long-Term
Offender designation for offenders deemed to be manageable in the community after serving a
determinate sentence. In addition, the parole system in Canada has demonstrated to be relatively
effective. Unfortunately, there are about 125 violent sex offenders released every year into
communities in Canada who had been deemed too dangerous to be released on parole after onethird of their sentences or statutory release after two-thirds. Instead, they are held until their
“Warrant Expiry Date” and have no controls in place once released. Their rate of violent
recidivism is three to five times higher than an offender released on parole. It is left to the police
to apply for an order under s. 810.1 to impose conditions to help mitigate the dangers posed by
these type of offenders. In its place, the police are frequently limited to random checks and
physical surveillance. Although electronic monitoring has been used in Canada to monitor
offenders on conditional release or probation, the equipment used in B.C. was not modern GPS
technology and employed rarely, with only 45 offenders being monitored in 2014.

48

Historically, while the research had been mixed, better and more recent research, such as
that by Padgett, Bales, and Blomberg (2006), has demonstrated that EM, alone or used in
conjunction with other offender management strategies, can significantly reduce the risk posed
by dangerous sex offenders to the community and to other serious offenders. EM has been
demonstrated to significantly reduce the likelihood of failure under community supervision, with
GPS being more effective than RF technology (Bales et al., 2010). Expanded use of EM was
recommended in B.C. in the Report of the Blue Ribbon Panel on crime reduction (Plecas et al.,
2014), the Correctional Service Canada is now in the second year of a three-year pilot, and, in
B.C., the tragic murder of Serena Vermeersch has been the catalyst for a commitment to expand
the use of electronic monitoring using the latest GPS technology.
Prior to December 2015, in B.C., electronic monitoring had only been used for low risk
offenders on probation, as an alternative to incarceration (B.C. Corrections, 2013). This thinking
is changing and must change. While electronic monitoring can and should be employed for
lower-risk offenders where the evidence suggests it will be cost-effective, it must also be used
for highest risk offenders, such as WED sex offenders released into the community and bound by
s. 810.1 and 810.2 orders. The police must have cost effective tools to manage the significant
risk created by such offenders. GPS technology provides the potential to reduce offending
through deterrence, the capacity to track an offender’s movements in real time, to set “no go”
areas that will trigger an intervention should they be breached, and even to assist in ensuring
dangerous sex offenders do not interact with other high-risk offenders, as such contact may
increase the likelihood of offending. GPS monitoring can not only prevent offences, it can assist
offenders in their efforts to reintegrate by deterring them from committing new offences.

49

Instead of considering EM only as a lower cost and less intrusive alternative to
incarceration for low-risk offenders, it should be used to enhance supervision of appropriate
offenders’ parole or statutory release, as is now being piloted by Correctional Service Canada.
Finally, the use of EM should be requested in every case of violent WED sex offenders for
whom police seek an order under s. 810.1 or s. 810.2. The release each year of approximately
125 violent sex offenders too dangerous to grant parole or statutory release creates not only fear,
but a concern for public safety. As a result, they are routinely the subject of s. 810.1 and 810.2
orders by police to manage their risk, but electronic monitoring has been underutilized and
reliant on antiquated technology in B.C. The direct and indirect costs to individuals, families,
communities, and to the justice system of a violent re-offence far outweigh the costs of operating
an efficient electronic monitoring program.
It is paradoxical that serious sexual offenders on parole or statutory release are supervised
by Correctional Service Canada staff with the expertise for this work, but the supervision of
WED offenders is essentially left with the police. The police have neither the mandate nor the
expertise for this role, and are limited to seeking 810.1 and 810.2 recognizances to impose
protective conditions. Moreover, compliance is not generally proactively monitored. Even those
few offenders on RF-EM being monitored by B.C. Corrections prior to December 2015 were
typically minor offenders on conditional sentences (B.C. Corrections, 2013), and certainly not
dangerous WED offenders. This is an issue that surely requires further study, given the level of
risk posed to the community. Fortunately, B.C. has taken significant steps to address the
inadequacies that became tragically apparent with the arrest and charge of Raymond Caissie. As
Attorney General Suzanne Anton stated, in the wake of Serena Vermeersch’s murder, “We owe
it to the Vermeersch family to make sure our daughters are safe” (CBC.ca, 2014).

50

There is now hope that a new investment in modern EM will give corrections and police
a powerful new tool to reduce the risk to public safety posed by violent sexual predators. A
recent example is the notorious case of Larry Takahashi, a serial rapist serving three life
sentences after pleading guilty to 14 offences against 23 victims. His offences involved rapes,
using a knife and rope, sexually assaulting a woman in front of her children, and threatening the
infant child of a victim (Slattery, 2016). He also confessed to committing many other sex
offences that he was not charged with (Givetash, 2017). His release on parole after 30 years in
prison, despite still being assessed by the Parole Board as “selfish, callous, and remorseless”
(Slattery, http://globalnews.ca, 2016) and a “moderate to high risk to reoffend” (Givetash,
http://vancouversun.com, 2017) caused great alarm in the community. However, he is subject to
multiple conditions, including EM, which in conjunction with other offender management
strategies, is positive, both in deterring Takahashi from committing other offences, but also in
providing comfort to the community that he is under constant electronic surveillance, given that
providing constant human surveillance is unrealistic. Further, a Federal/Provincial/Territorial
committee should be created to work towards a national strategy to manage offenders released at
their warrant expiry date, given the potential of EM to enhance community safety for such
offenders not subject to conditions of parole or statutory release, as are the offenders monitored
by Correctional Services Canada.
An emerging use of EM in Canada is for subjects who it is feared on reasonable grounds
may commit a terrorism offence. Amendments to the Criminal Code have provided a new type
of recognizance under s. 8.011 that has been used at least 19 times in Canada to impose
conditions, including EM, on those believed to be at risk of committing a terrorism offence, and
it appears most subjects do comply with their conditions, with the notable and notorious

51

exception of Aaron Driver, although at the time of his death on route to commit a bombing, he
was not wearing a GPS bracelet. This case should serve as an example of how GPS monitoring
of a dangerous suspect could have helped police avert a tragedy.
GPS monitoring of offenders has the potential to be used in “data matching”, which
already occurs in police investigations. For example, police currently obtain “tower dumps” of
cell phone data to see which cell phone numbers were active at the time and location of a crime
to narrow the list of potential suspects. This strategy is particularly useful in solving a serial
crime where the same phone is used near multiple crime sites, as was the case of serial sex
attacker Ibata Hexamer (Fraser, 2015). In addition to using cell phone data routinely for
investigations, in various jurisdictions, police use Automated Licence Plate readers in
conjunction with public surveillance video to solve crimes (Roberts & Casanova, 2012). There is
the potential to incorporate GPS data from offenders being electronically monitored into these
crime solving strategies, along with the emerging rich data source provided by facial recognition
software that is becoming ubiquitous both commercially and for public use.
GPS has already been experimented with in the forensic psychiatric setting as a
complementary method to help manage subject behaviour. When managing the behaviour of
those who are factually guilty of committing heinous acts of violence, such as Allan Schoenborn,
but who were found NCRMD, GPS monitoring should be considered as an option to increase
public safety and public confidence. However, privacy interests must be considered. Those found
NCRMD are not guilty of a crime, but that does not mean reasonable intrusions in privacy
cannot be justified.
The use of EM should also be considered as an alternative to detention for accused
persons awaiting trial who are detained for reasons other than dangerousness (e.g., because they

52

do not have a fixed address or because they have a history of failing to appear in court). As
described earlier, Aboriginal persons are grossly over-represented among detained offenders
(CCLA, 2015) and EM should be seen as having the potential to be a less harmful and intrusive
alternative to detention. This is particularly important given the well-documented injustices that
Indigenous persons have historically suffered in society generally, and in the criminal justice
system specifically (R. v. Gladue, 1999; R. v. Ipeelee, 2012).
There are other uses for EM to improve public safety outside of the criminal justice
system, such as for “wanderers” with cognitive disorders. Even parents have been targeted for
marketing of GPS devices, ostensibly to keep track of their children in the interests of their
safety. In each of these circumstances, there is a lack of clear public policy and analysis of the
benefits versus the harms, including intrusiveness, paternalism, and interfering with privacy and
independence. At least in the criminal justice system, the application of EM is subject to some
oversight in terms of a legal framework, even if it is not always applied in a sophisticated manner
that considers the evidence about efficacy depending on the offender and the circumstances.
Regardless of the setting in which EM is utilized, good public policy and legal
frameworks should be drive the use of technology, rather than the other way around.
Technology, such as EM, should not be seen as a panacea or a replacement for proven offender
management strategies. Rather, it should be used to complement them. When EM is used as an
alternative to custody, the potential exists for great cost savings and to reduce the negative effect
of incarceration. But, if used when incarceration is not an option (e.g., probation), privacy rights
must be given considerable weight. In addition, there are no direct cost savings because the use
of EM is an additive cost to existing methods of supervision.

53

It is recognized that one must always consider a reasonable balance between achieving
improvements in offender management and public safety and the privacy interests involved.
Given this, public policy makers must be wary of the danger of net widening and, while certain
offenders pose a serious risk to public safety, their privacy rights should be outweighed by the
public interest. However, this is not true of all offender types, and EM is not a substitute for
therapeutic offender management strategies, but may complement them.
Notwithstanding the need for careful consideration of the benefits and costs of EM, the
evidence is clear that with offenders with certain characteristics, particularly predatory sex
offenders, EM is an effective strategy to reduce breaches of conditions and prevent new serious
offences. It is unreasonable that EM should only be imposed if the parolee consents, as was
proposed by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (Stoddart, 2012). The fact that
EM may not be rehabilitative, i.e., the strategy is only effective while the offender is wearing the
tracking device, is certainly not a reason not to utilize it, given the added public protection during
the period of monitoring and the financial and human cost of serious offences that could have
been prevented. Used wisely, EM is, at the least, just one more tool for criminal justice system
players to effectively manage offenders, reduce recidivism, and protect the public. But, there
must be more well-designed research projects to test the effects of EM in Canada. As has been
demonstrated in research in Florida (Padgett, Bales, & Blomberg, 2006) and California (Gies et
al., 2012), EM can have a substantial effect on reducing the recidivism rates of serious offenders.
Further, research in Washington D.C. (Roman et al., 2012) and analysis in Canada (Plecas et al.,
2014) make strong arguments that the scale of EM use must be large enough to provide sufficient
data to isolate the effects of EM from other variables so that the true value of EM can be
determined, and to take advantage of economies of scale, respectively.

54

Finally, if Professor Yeh (2010; 2015) is correct in his analysis of the research, EM has
potential unexplored in Canada to reduce prison overcrowding, reduce the negative effects of
incarceration on offenders, reduce crime, and provide very significant social benefits by reducing
the harms created by violent offending. Importantly, there is the potential to achieve these goals
at less cost than the current model by reducing the number of offenders incarcerated at any given
time. Therefore, Canada should expand its experimentation with the use of this technology that
has such potential for offender management and to increase public safety at reduced costs with
benefits to both the public and offenders. It is notable that in both the incarcerated and detained
populations in Canada, Aboriginal persons are grossly over-represented; EM may provide an
opportunity to address this serious and systemic problem. However, any new EM initiatives in
the criminal justice system must be guided by policies that ensure EM is combined with other
interventions to support rehabilitation and reduce recidivism, and that the use of EM is only as
intrusive as necessary to protect the community, as set out in the recommendations section in this
major paper. Finally, while there may well be secondary benefits to well-designed EM programs
for offenders (e.g., reducing pre- and post-conviction incarceration rates, reducing costs), the
overarching goal of any such program must be to improve public safety.

55

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