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Abstract: 

Project Remand is a private, non-profit organization that has been providing a range of pretrial assessments and supervision of adult defendants in Ramsey County, Minnesota since 1973. The approach has helped successfully reduce jail population pressures by offering alternatives to traditional detention while promoting public protection and lawful behavior through pretrial services. The range of programs and services to the community include: In-jail screening and risk assessments; conditional release supervision for moderate and higher risk defendants; and chemical dependency assessment and referrals. Project Remand clients return to jail at much lower rates than non-participating offenders, but in studying their recidivism data, they found one class of offender was exhibiting unacceptably high recidivism levels—domestic violence perpetrators. This article examines in detail the solution Project Remand and Minnesota Monitoring developed for the supervision of domestic violence offenders using GPS monitoring and its success in reducing violent incidents and promoting the safety, well-being and confidence of the DV victims protected by the program.

Keywords: Monitoring Domestic Violence; Praxis International ‘Blueprint for Safety’; BLUtag GPS tracking

Affiliations:  1: Securus Technologies (Satellite Tracking of People); 2: Project Remand; 3: Minnesota Monitoring.