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Technology
Technological advances enhance and improve community corrections functions in a rapidly changing global environment. From virtual office settings, innovations in communication and supervision, training and learning opportunities, and program delivery, the community corrections profession continues to explore ways to enhance community safety, improve supervision by achieving position change, and support staff via technology.
Mobile Probation Unit
Florida’s newest supervision resource is the addition of the Mobile Probation Units (MPU). The evolution of the MPU’s began when the Palm Beach County Jail was struggling with overcrowding issues. A review was conducted of those who were housed in their facility, and it was determined a great number of those were being held on a Violation of Probation (VOP). Furthermore, many violations were due to the individual under supervision failing to report to the Probation Office as instructed. To assist in alleviating overcrowding, and boost compliance, the MPU was implemented.
The first MPU is a 24-foot vehicle, equipped with a staging area and tents, folding tables, folding chairs, and locations within the bus designed to provide probation officers an area to meet with those under supervision. Designated reporting sites have been established where the MPU can be centrally located, and have public facilities, ample parking, and officer protection.
The MPU has been a great success in providing a valuable resource to those who are on supervision. Bringing services to the community affords the opportunity for success to those we supervise. Florida has recently added a new MPU.
Bicycle Units
Hillsborough County, Florida has multiple urban areas, such as the City of Tampa that has housing in condensed areas, such as apartments, condominiums, high rise buildings and subdivision neighborhoods. These communities often have multiple offenders living in the area, and State Probation Officers are overlapping in these communities supervising their offenders on community supervision/ probation.
As a result, Community Corrections started a Probation Unit where bicycles are used when conducting the supervision of offenders in urban areas. This is done in partnership with our law enforcement partner bicycle units.
This concept has shown good rewards as it allows for an efficient way of making field contacts with offenders while improving community relations in and near offender residences and employment in urban areas utilizing bicycles in a team environment.
Each officer completes a required 32-hour national training before being accepted into the program. In the near future, other urban areas of Florida will implement the Bike Program.
Virtual Offices
Today's workplace may be an onsite or offsite location that employs an array of integrative technologies, allowing for hybrid use or a totally virtual model with all users
technologically connected across limitless geographical settings.
How the New Virtual Office Could Improve Remote Work
Date: September 20, 2022
This 2022 article provides numerous discussions and resources regarding virtual offices and employees’ return to work attitudes.No Limits: Advances in Community Supervision Technology
Georgia Department of Community Supervision
Date: January 2017Bringing Supervision to the Community: Virtual Offices for Parole Officers
State of Georgia Pardons and Paroles, presented at APPA
Date: 2015Remote Best Practices for Community Supervision
Date: July 2020
This report is intended to provide practical recommendations and guidance for transition to remote and distance supervision practices while observing community supervision best practices. It was created by research staff and is based on interviews with leaders throughout the industry and provides recommendations comprised from the American Probation and Parole Association, Justice Management Institute, National Association of Drug Court Professionals, the Vera Institute, Council of State Governments, National Center for State Courts, and United States Courts Services. Additionally, it provides guidance on how community supervision has and will continue the transition to remote supervision in response to COVID-19 with elements of successful supervision programs and remote culture of supervision programs.
Mobile Devices
Portable devices such as smartphones, e-readers, tablets, smartwatches, wired or wireless, with communication and data exchange capabilities.
Procuring and Implementing Offender Tracking Technology Challenges
Date: April 2018
This publication by the National Institute of Justice through the Justice Technology Information Center provides key findings for agencies challenged with decision-making and procurement of offender tracking technology.Probation Office Pilots Lean, Open Design to Shrink Space, Rent Bills
Date: August 27, 2014
This article from the US Courts showcases the spatial design of Chicago probation offices and their piloted Integrated Workplace Initiative (IWI). Goals include cutting rent costs through space-sharing and workspace mobility.Leveraging the Power of Smartphone Applications to Enhance Community Supervision
Date: April 7, 2020
This issue paper, submitted by the technology committee of the American Probation and Parole Association on April 7, 2020, addresses the use of smartphone applications installed on a person under supervision's personal device or a device provided to the client to be used in support of the community supervision process. The paper outlines the various capabilities and expands use of the technology now available for supervision purposes, including but not limited to monitoring of location, contacts, programming, and case management.
GPS Monitoring
Global Position Systems (GPS) are software tracking systems that monitor persons under supervision’s location and movement in the community.
GPS monitoring has been the focus of several legal cases within the past ten years, including US v. Lambus (2017) and US v. Jones (2012). US v. Lambus found that wearing an ankle bracelet requires a warrant, while US v. Jones held that installing a GPS device on a vehicle to track it constitutes as a search under the Fourth Amendment. Because of the complicated legal history of GPS monitoring, agencies should have clear policies and procedures in place that dictate how and when a GPS monitor will be used.
Leveraging the Power of Smartphone Applications to Enhance Community Supervision
Date: April 7, 2020
This issue paper, submitted by the technology committee of the American Probation and Parole Association on April 7, 2020, addresses the use of smartphone applications installed on a person under supervision's personal device or a device provided to the client to be used in support of the community supervision process. The paper outlines the various capabilities and expands use of the technology now available for supervision purposes, including but not limited to monitoring of location, contacts, programming, and case management.The Use of Location Monitoring at the Post-Conviction Stage of Supervision
Date: December 2021
This Federal Probation article from December 2021 outlines the history and ongoing importance of the use of GPS monitoring for probation and post-conviction persons on supervision.GPS Monitoring Practices in Community Supervision and the Impact of Advanced Analytics
Date: January 2016The Feasibility of Implementing Global Position System Monitoring with Crime Scene Correlation in the State of Ohio
December 2019.
Electronic Monitoring
Electronic monitoring (EM) devices use active or passive GPS tracking. Passive tracking requires the person under supervision to communicate via phone or connection through a home monitoring device (HMD), such as an ankle monitor, linked to a centralized computer system. Active tracking continuously notifies the centralized system if the person under supervision moves outside the designated radius.
Procuring and Implementing Offender Tracking Technology Challenges
Date: April 2018
This publication by the National Institute of Justice through the Justice Technology Information Center provides key findings for agencies challenged with decision-making and procurement of offender tracking technology.Rethinking Electronic Monitoring: A Harm Reduction Guide
Date: September 2022
This 2022 position paper from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) discusses the potential negative effects of the use of electronic monitoring on persons released to pretrial supervision and persons under probation and parole supervision.The Use of Location Monitoring at the Post-Conviction Stage of Supervision
Date: December 2021
This December 2021 study describes the types of location monitoring used by federal probation officers and the data collected for the findings.
Teleconferencing
The use of teleconferencing and video teleconferencing has grown in popularity to maintain communication between individuals and groups with broad application in community corrections. This includes engagement with persons under supervision and in treatment interventions.
Community Corrections Technology: Experts Identify Top Needs for Tech Solutions to Probation and Parole System Challenges
March 2021
Corrections agencies may turn to smart digital gear to better train and equip supervisors and monitor persons under supervision to keep them on the path toward compliance.What the COVID-19 Pandemic Teaches About the essential Practices of Community Corrections and Supervision
European Journal of Probation - Building accountability and client–officer relationships through videoconferencing
June 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic occurred in the midst of a reform movement in probation and parole supervision in the United States. Because social distancing orders created significant disruptions in probation and parole, the pandemic provides an opportunity to explore the innovative ways that probation and parole officers adjusted their supervision strategies with clients.
Date: 2023
The COVID-19 pandemic forced community corrections agencies worldwide to use remote technologies to prevent the spread of the virus. A growing body of the literature suggests that video-conferencing is poised to be a core practice within community correctional settings. However, little is known about the best practice strategies for incorporating videoconferencing into routine supervision. We address this gap by in- terviewing and conducting focus groups with a sample of community correction officers from the US (N = 16).
Social Media
Internet-based networking platforms where participants share content, including personal information. Community supervision staff often gather information from these sites as an adjunct to more traditional methods of monitoring persons under supervision’s activities. Social media platforms commonly include Facebook (Meta), Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and LinkedIn.
Leveraging Social Media for Reentry Programs
Date: March 25, 2021
This presentation from the National Reentry Resource Center provides information on the use of social media in your supervision agency’s reentry program.The Use of Social Media as a Supervision Tool
Date: April 24, 2019
This issue paper from the Technology Committee of the American Probation and Parole Association outlines the use of social media monitoring in supervision strategies. By accessing social networking sites, officers may find important information that otherwise might not be readily available to them. With these opportunities come challenges that agencies will need to consider and address to ensure officers understand how to use social media monitoring in an ethical manner, consistent with an agency’s mission and values.Issue Paper on The Use of Social Media in Community Corrections (APPA)
Date: 2014
This paper was developed to elevate the awareness of the potential of social media, also known as social networking, in the field of community corrections. Monitoring client activity on social media can be an important component of the investigation or supervision process, however with opportunities come challenges. This paper will highlight the importance of establishing policies around social media use and identify some of the issues community corrections agencies may encounter as they incorporate social media in their investigation and supervision practices. Specifically, the paper addresses four areas of interest with social media usage in community corrections: client investigations and intelligence gathering; policy development available tools to assist agencies monitor social media; and training resources.
Scanning Software
Software used to scan mobile devices or computers of persons under supervision to confront compliance.
Field Search: A Tool for Monitoring Sex Offenders
Date: April 2010
A powerful tool called Field Search enables law enforcement and community corrections officers to monitor sex offenders' ready access to the Internet and manage their computer use
Case Management Software
Software which functions to improve communication between staff and across divisions of an agency and provides reports, data, and oversight to advance supervision.
Polygraph and CVS (Voice Stress)
Technology used to detect deception, most often with persons under supervision convicted of sexual offenses; polygraph, being more commonly used, and less frequently, Computer Voice Stress (CVS) systems.
The Use of Polygraph in Sex Offender Treatment
Date: 2012 and 2014 evaluation periods
This resource site from the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice outlines the use of polygraphs in the state by providing an overview of agency responsibility, use of the polygraph, and the cost associated with this technology.Polygraph for Sex Offender Management
Date: November 2016
This overview outlines the use of polygraphs for sex offenders supervised in the Federal system on Probation and Supervised Release for Federal Courts.Frequently Asked Questions on the Use of Polygraphs
Date: Copyright 2010
This website for the American Polygraph Association discusses and answers the most frequently asked questions about the use of polygraphs.The Effectiveness and Future of Polygraph Testing
Date: September 3, 2020
This 2020 paper from EBP Society, a community of professionals who share a commitment to evidence-based education and staff development, presents and evaluates different studies that analyzed the benefits and shortcomings of the current use of polygraphs in the United States.Voice Stress Analysis: Only 15 Percent of Lies About Drug Use Detected in Field Test
Date: 2008
VSA software programs are designed to measure changes in voice patterns caused by the stress, or the physical effort, of trying to hide deceptive responses.[4] VSA programs interpret changes in vocal patterns and indicate on a graph whether the subject is being "deceptive" or "truthful."
Kiosks
Automated reporting and supervision through physical kiosks used for persons under supervision who are assessed at lower risk and as a supplement to traditional supervision practices for other persons. Using kiosks for supervision can create reporting efficiencies and documentation that benefit both staff and persons under supervision.
Kiosk Supervision: A Guidebook for Community Corrections Professionals
Date: August 2016
This guidebook, funded by the National Institute of Justice, provides community supervision agencies with an overview of automated kiosk reporting systems. It is based primarily on a multi-jurisdiction kiosk study using automated kiosk reporting systems to supervise clients under community supervision.
Supervision Using Supervisee Smartphones
Software incorporated on the persons under supervision’s personal phone or with a device provided to the person by the agency. Smartphones expand the staff's capacity to supervise persons under supervision using virtual check-ins as an adjunct to in-person meetings. It is another tool to monitor compliance with conditions of release, address challenges with more immediacy, provide information on persons under supervision’s location, and as an opportunity to support behavior change.
Using Remote Technology to Enhance Criminal Justice Outcomes: Webinar
APPAMonitoring with Smartphones: A Survey of Applications
Date: June 2017
The power of this multifaceted technology combined with its prevalence within our society has made smartphone applications a very attractive supervision tool, one without the stigma associated with more traditional electronic monitoring devices.Leveraging the Power of Smartphone Applications to Enhance Community Supervision
Date: April 7, 2020
This issue paper, submitted by the technology committee of the American Probation and Parole Association on April 7, 2020, addresses the use of smartphone applications installed on a person under supervision's personal device or a device provided to the client to be used in support of the community supervision process. The paper outlines the various capabilities and expands use of the technology now available for supervision purposes, including but not limited to monitoring of location, contacts, programming, and case management.Using Mobile Technology to Enhance Outcomes in Community Corrections
Date: May 1, 2020
This webinar, a joint presentation from the American Probation and Parole Association and the National Association of Drug Court Professionals by Doug Marlow, J.D, Ph.D., discusses using remote technology to apply evidence-based practices in probation and parole supervision, including treatment courts and practices.
Arkansas Division of Community Correction Texting Protocol
Date: November 12, 2022
This 2020 study from global business messaging provider MessageMedia and Marquis Software, a leading platform for Offender Management Systems, outlines the outcomes of text messaging appointment reminders for community supervision.Community Supervision in a Digital World
Date: 2021
This study provided by the Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative funded by the National Institute of Justice through the Rand Corporation outlines challenges and opportunities related to supervising individuals in an increasingly digital world and what needs to occur for agencies to overcome these obstacles.Community Corrections Technology: Experts Identify Top Needs for Tech Solutions to Mounting Probation and Parole System Challenges
Date: March 1, 2021
This 2021 article from the Office of Justice Programs outlines the need for agencies to use technology in assisting with the supervision of the ever-growing community corrections population with approaches to managing and supporting that population.
Artificial Intelligence
Using primarily computers, AI simulates human intelligence. AI’s emerging research and practice is finding its way into consideration for application within the corrections profession. However, while interest in AI is growing, it is tempered by the challenges in implementation and the ethical use of AI with persons under correctional supervision.
Criminal Justice Testing and Evaluation Consortium, Artificial Intelligence Applications in Corrections
Date: August 2020
This technology brief is the fourth in a four-part series that examines artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the criminal justice system. This brief highlights applications currently in use in corrections, including institutional corrections (jails and prisons) and community corrections (probation and parole).Artificial Intelligence Pulls Ahead in Recidivism Reduction
Date: February 14, 2020
This 2020 Government Computer News (GCN) article, including actual research study, discusses using risk assessments to determine recidivism. This study determines the assessment use shows significantly better predictions than humans and other criminal justice practice.Tapping into Artificial Intelligence: Advanced Technology to Prevent Crime and Support Reentry
Date: 2014
This National Institute of Justice project and article discusses the possibilities of using artificial intelligence and data to manage the supervision of specific justice-involved individuals based on risk and needs.