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Abstract: 

In Volume 31, Number 1 of Journal of Offender Monitoring, we examined “Project Remand,” a program in Ramsey County, Minnesota that uses electronic monitoring to enforce orders of protection for victims of domestic violence. This article examines a similar initiative in Spain, whose justice system was one of the earliest European adopters of EM as a sentencing alternative. There are similarities in the two programs worth noting: both employ risk assessment instruments to screen suitable subjects for their monitoring programs; both place a high value on ensuring the safety of participants, especially victims; both have entered the field with caution—the proportion of restraining orders accompanied by the use of GPS monitoring is still small in both jurisdictions. Naturally, there are significant differences, too—differences in the law enforcement and corrections systems; and differences in scope: Ramsey is but one county, while the Spanish experience as described by Lorea Arenas is a nationwide effort, with programs implemented in urban and rural districts. Both programs share one unfortunate aspect in common—the difficulty of ensuring the safety of victims who are either unable or unwilling to testify against an abusive spouse or participate in an electronic monitoring scheme that depends on the cooperation of both victim and abuser to function. This article comprehensively examines all aspects of the Spanish experience with using GPS in enforcing orders of protection, including the legal and statutory foundations, court systems, technology, and police and prosecutorial responsibilities and functions. Includes the results of the author’s surveys and interviews with police and victims who have experience with the system, and provides data on rates and effectiveness of GPS-enforced orders.

Keywords: GPS Enforcement of Orders of Protection; COMETA; State Observatory of Violence on Women (SOVW); Specialized Domestic Violence Courts

Affiliations:  1: University de Estremadura.