RED FLAGS AND TRIGGER CONTROL: THE ROLE OF HUMAN SUPERVISION IN AN ELECTRONIC MONITORING PROGRAM

This study examines a probation department’s electronic-monitoring (EM) based supervision of clients facing domestic violence charges. Of greater significance than the technology per se is its anchoring within a regime of restrictions and set of relevancies. These organize the probation officer’s (PO) supervision practices, including the interaction strategies adopted with clients. Clients are presumed to be susceptible to various triggers that can imperil “victim safety,” and thePO’s activities are oriented toward identifying and managing these risks. Thus, EM is less a technological accomplishment than an interpretive one. Technology furnishes a resource for doing human supervision rather than supplanting it. This study was supported under award number 97-IJ-CX-K014 from the Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice. Direct correspondence to the author, Department of Justice Studies, 113 Bowman Hall, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44122. Ethnographies of Law and Social Control Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Volume 6, 31–48 Copyright © 2005 by Elsevier Ltd. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1521-6136/doi:10.1016/S1521-6136(04)06003-8