Chicago Is Asking Teenagers Awaiting Trials To Wear Ankle Monitors To Track Them

Chicago-based courtrooms are asking teenagers to put on ankle monitors which continuously track their movement with GPS and allow probation officials to call them anytime when awaiting trial.

According to reports of CityLab, while judges justify the monitors as a method to enforce probation, the ankle monitors also receive many disagreements from legal experts over the access without restriction they allow in lives of teenagers that were facing punishments. 

It is known that the kind of ankle monitor which Chicago agreed to put to use at the beginning of this year is ReliAlert XC3 by Track Group. Those wearing it cannot refuse any incoming call.

Sarah Staudt, an attorney and former juvenile defender at Chicago, said:

Others also have the same viewpoints that describe the ankle monitors as an unnecessary symptom of the city’s over-policing parts of the city that are underprivileged. 

According to a representative of Chicago-based Circuit Court of Cook County, the teenagers are reminded that the battery of the monitor needs to be charged or warned against going to a banned area by a communication system.

Pat Milhizer, the representative, said that he did not know any recording system abuses, except for the fact that the privacy concerns would be considered by the county. Each recording is kept in 18 months, therefore, it is feasible to check and ensure that nobody can abuse any privacy of teenagers.

However, other experts also argued that the monitors meant to offer minors a substitute to imprisonment are not exactly helpful. Research states that almost everybody given freedom before trial will appear at court without being asked, even with no monitoring.

Meanwhile, those wearing these monitors often find themselves committing technical violations, leading to them being imprisoned.

“They give you all the tools to bury yourself.” said a 15-year-old awaiting trial and wearing a monitor said to Citylab.