Dallas Judge Tracks Chronic Truants with GPS devices
A county juvenile judge in East Dallas has ordered nine students at Bryan Adams High to wear a GPS monitoring unit as part of an Attendance Improvement Management Program, funded by a mix of county, nonprofit and private funds, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News.
Students are being fitted with a Global Positioning System device that allows truant officers to zero in on their location 24 hours a day. The device also contains a cellphone programmed with voice recognition software to prevent students from giving it to a friend to take to school in their place.
The project's use of GPS tracking devices is unusual but not unique.
"We're still evaluating the program," said Jon Dahlander, citing cost concerns and the number of students currently enrolled in the project.
Last year, Maryland lawmakers proposed something similar for truants in Prince George's County, but the measure went nowhere. And this spring, a Midland, Texas, judge created a GPS-based monitoring program for 15 truants in his court.
In Dallas, the program exists only in Judge Chavez's court, and thus far has touched just 55 students. Judge Chavez places teens into the program only after their truancy becomes so bad that they face the prospect of being sent to juvenile detention.
The students selected for the program averaged 55 missed school days a year and were at the bottom 1 percent of the approximately 9,000 students adjudicated by Dallas County Truancy Court last year. If the students continue to skip school, they end-up back in Judge Chavez's court and face a misdemeanor contempt of court charge.
Years ago, the criminal justice system discovered that Global Positioning System devices are useful in tracking parolees and those under house arrest. GPS units proved to be an inexpensive and effective alternative to incarceration.
Debates on technology-related blogs and among civil libertarians center on whether GPS devices are too invasive for misdemeanor truants.
Students are being fitted with a Global Positioning System device that allows truant officers to zero in on their location 24 hours a day. The device also contains a cellphone programmed with voice recognition software to prevent students from giving it to a friend to take to school in their place.
The project's use of GPS tracking devices is unusual but not unique.
"We're still evaluating the program," said Jon Dahlander, citing cost concerns and the number of students currently enrolled in the project.
Last year, Maryland lawmakers proposed something similar for truants in Prince George's County, but the measure went nowhere. And this spring, a Midland, Texas, judge created a GPS-based monitoring program for 15 truants in his court.
In Dallas, the program exists only in Judge Chavez's court, and thus far has touched just 55 students. Judge Chavez places teens into the program only after their truancy becomes so bad that they face the prospect of being sent to juvenile detention.
The students selected for the program averaged 55 missed school days a year and were at the bottom 1 percent of the approximately 9,000 students adjudicated by Dallas County Truancy Court last year. If the students continue to skip school, they end-up back in Judge Chavez's court and face a misdemeanor contempt of court charge.
Years ago, the criminal justice system discovered that Global Positioning System devices are useful in tracking parolees and those under house arrest. GPS units proved to be an inexpensive and effective alternative to incarceration.
Debates on technology-related blogs and among civil libertarians center on whether GPS devices are too invasive for misdemeanor truants.
posted by Michael Burns at 4:22 PM
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