Bavarian Big Brother
January 28, 2008
Conservative politician Beate Merk told German newsmagazine Der Spiegel that Bavaria is looking into the possibility of using the electronic devices in tandem with satellite navigation systems to track the movements of released criminals with a tendency to re-offend. The idea is to keep pedophiles and other perpetrators of sex crimes away from certain high-risk zones, such as schools and kindergartens.
While the technical details of the plan remain undecided, it is thought that the system would include the use of a bracelet attached to the ex-offender which emits a radio signal traced by GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites.
The idea would be that when the offender moves into a secure zone around a high-risk location, the GPS satellite would inform the police and others in the zone, such as school authorities, about the breach via SMS.
Opposition on human rights grounds
The plan has caused concern from the opposition Social Democrats (SPD). Federal Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries reacted with skepticism when she heard of Bavaria's interest in the tagging system.
"The whole plan sounds as if it incompatible with our understanding of human dignity," she told reporters. "If someone has served their sentence and has been punished, we cannot tell them once they are free that they will remain under our control."
Zypries conceded that those who pose a risk of re-offending should continue to be supervised to a certain extent after release but other options which adhere to fundamental and human rights, such as appearing for scheduled checks and counseling, should be considered ahead of electronic tagging.
Bracelet's "freedom"
Justice Minister Merk has argued that the electronic bracelet system would allow more freedom as the ex-offender would need less direct supervision and would not need to regularly visit a police station or physically report their whereabouts every time they move.
She said the bracelet would create its own mental boundaries, meaning the ex-offender would know that entering secure zones around schools and kindergartens would cause a breach and would therefore lead to them staying away from high-risk areas.