Electronic monitoring for abusers

According to the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, at least 12 Minnesota women, one man and two friends, family members or interveners died last year in a domestic violence situation.

That is 11 people fewer than in 2008. Rep. Paul Gardner (DFL-Shoreview) sponsors a bill to reduce those numbers even more.

Approved Feb. 19 by the House Crime Victims/Criminal Records Division, HF2864 would lift current restrictions on electronic monitoring as a pre-trial condition in domestic abuse cases, and allow a judicial district to establish a pilot project whereby a judge could, as a condition of release, require an offender to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Also approved by the House Public Safety Policy and Oversight Committee it awaits action by the House Public Safety Finance Division. A companion, SF2636, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Wiger (DFL-Maplewood), awaits action by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Electronic monitoring becomes one tool that can help in those cases to enhance safety,” said Liz Richards, the coalition’s director of advocacy and systems change.

She said Stearns County has a domestic violence court that focuses on repeat offenders who have a felony domestic assault charge against them.

“During one three-month period last year, they had 19 domestic violence offenders in that court program,” she said. Those offenders combined for 401 violations of release during that time, mostly violations of a no-contact order. “It’s precisely those offenders that this type of monitoring would be targeting.”

A system would need to have dedicated resources and a localized system capable of implementation, leading Rep. Michael Paymar (DFL-St. Paul) to wonder about the cost.

“We’re not looking for any state dollars to go with this, we’re really authorizing programs to set up a pilot, meaning the pilot would be responsible for figuring out whether they are going to seek outside funding sources to pay for this or whether their system can currently absorb it within whatever they’re doing,” Richards said. “From what I hear it can range anywhere from something like the $10-$20 per day. It really depends on the system you set up.”