Domestic violence is a persistent issue across the country—one that has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), 10 million people per year are physically abused by an intimate partner. Technology can play a critical role in safely monitoring perpetrators of domestic abuse and providing their victims with a sense of control.
For clients under community supervision, one common point of noncompliance revolves around proper electronic monitoring device upkeep—making it the officer’s job to constantly stay in contact with clients. But with SCRAM TouchPoint®, clients are automatically sent routine EM device notifications directly to their smartphone, helping increase client compliance and removing the need for officers to intervene.
Recently, the use of “sobriety tags”—or SCRAM Continuous Alcohol Monitoring® (SCRAM CAM®) devices—have launched across England and Wales to monitor individuals convicted of alcohol-related crimes. These individuals can be ordered to an Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (AAMR), which is a sentencing power that requires the offender to wear a tag, and can be imposed as both a punitive and rehabilitative requirement.
Community corrections departments across the country are harnessing the power of technology to streamline day-to-day tasks and client engagement. Probation and parole officers are using mobile technology, for example, to monitor and check-in with their clients. The SCRAM TouchPoint® remote check-in feature can not only save time for officers but help increase client compliance.
Text messaging is the most used method of communication among smartphone users—in fact, 97% of users text at least once a day. What if community corrections departments could leverage this increasingly popular method of communication in their daily client interactions? With the SCRAM TouchPoint® mobile app, officers can enhance client engagement by harnessing the ease and popularity of text messaging.
The policy landscape for community corrections is rapidly changing. Supervision officers are being pressured to do their jobs faster, more efficiently, more effectively, and with fewer resources in order to keep up and adhere to new policies and policy changes. But how can corrections departments achieve this, all while implementing evidence-based practices into day-to-day decision making?
From raw GPS location points to client stop patterns, SCRAM Systems is constantly striving to develop new methods to distill the 1,440 location points generated per client per day into quantitative data for officers. SCRAM GPS® now has Pattern of Life (POL) mapping, designed to provide even more detail on how and where clients spend their time.
As jail depopulation continues to move inmates into community corrections programs, the demand has increased for these departments to effectively manage more clients with the same resources. Officers need smarter tools to navigate larger workloads and give clients the best opportunity to succeed in order to deliver on the promise that core corrections practices can impact recidivism.
As community supervision becomes modernized to fit today’s digital climate, probation and parole departments are relying on software and mobile apps to not only streamline client supervision but overcome challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. SCRAM TouchPoint® now has a way to integrate video chat functionality to help community corrections departments communicate with clients face-to-face, safely and effectively.
The Columbia County Probation Department supervises justice-involved individuals through drug and alcohol testing, referring them for counseling and treatment, and maintaining a close view of how well clients are complying with court-ordered probation. This mission, combined with the intrinsic challenges faced by members of the community, is what led the department to implement the latest technology to successfully accomplish the task.