Many of America’s prisons presently operate at or over full capacity. In an attempt to relieve the problem of overcrowding in U.S. prisons, many lawmakers, criminal justice professionals, and activists are calling for the use of alternative sanctions in the place of prisons. Proponents of alternatives to prisons suggest that nonviolent offenders should be diverted from prisons and managed under less expensive and intrusive modes of supervision.

Such alternative sanctions include parole, probation, drug treatment, halfway houses, creative sentencing, electronic monitoring, and “shock incarceration” (boot camp), each prescribing different levels of surveillance for offenders. One of the most popular of these alternatives is electronic monitoring. With electronic monitoring, an offender wears an electronic bracelet that sends signals back to a receiver placed in the offender’s home. If he or she strays too far from...