Evaluation of Kids Are People Electronic Monitoring Program (A JAIBG Project)

The area to be served by the Kids Are People (KAP) electronic monitoring program reaches from Palmer to Cantwell in the north, to Glennallen in the east, and to Cordova in the south — an area of nearly 19,000 square miles. Glennallen, Valdez, and Cordova are served by one probation officer. (The remainder of the region has five probation officers.) Supervising youth in so large an area becomes both problematic and expensive. Electronic monitoring can provide an amount of control which is not possible with traditional probation supervision.

Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grant (JAIBG) funds will be used to add Voice and Location Update Evaluation (VALUE) monitoring to the more restrictive form of electronic monitoring already in use in this region.

Traditional EM requires a base unit in the offender's home. The device is connected to a telephone line on household power. The offender is then fitted with an ankle bracelet which serves as a transmitter to a receiving computer. At pre-programmed stages throughout the day, indicator lights trigger offender reporting/response actions in order to provide information on the offender's location. Allowances for offender activities such as school and work can be programmed into the receiving computer. Assuming all schedules and communications are filed in a timely manner and are received on time by monitoring personnel, electronic monitoring offers reliable supervision that is preferable to detention for at-risk youth deemed acceptable for such a program.

VALUE seeks to eliminate both the telephone unit and the ankle bracelet, relying instead on voice communication to receiving equipment in a designated monitoring office. The receiving equipment then pinpoints offender location, affording monitoring personnel immediate information on any deviation from probation conditions. At the same time, the offender is not tied to bulky equipment and is able to move about with minimal intrusion other than directed telephone contact.

KAP also plans to provide aftercare to both VALUE and EM clients. These services, in the form of mentoring and mediating/counselor relationships with affected youth and their families, will be made available for 60 days after completion of the program with a goal of fostering new behaviors learned during monitoring.

To evaluate the program, the Justice Center will compare behavioral outcomes for three specific groups: those on VALUE, those on traditional EM, and youth on informal or formal probation. Evaluation will involve examination of probationer files, interviews with VALUE and traditional EM clients and their families, and interviews with field probation officers in the region. The utility of this program for supervising probationers in large areas with few probation officers is of particular interest in the state of Alaska, and the evaluation will address this interest.