Track Sex Offenders By Satellite, Children’s Advocate Recommends

Satellite tracking and lie-detector tests ought be used as tools to protect children from sex offenders in the United Kingdom, according to a children’s advocate quoted in British press reports on Nov. 14.

With release of the Belfast-based Barnardo’s new study, "A Risk Too Far?," the charity’s chief executive, Martin Narey, said the U.K.’s probation service needs help keeping tabs on released prisoners still requiring supervision.

The former head of Britain’s Prison and Probation Service, Narey suggested that "for those people who are genuinely very dangerous, satellite technology — [similar to that] used successfully in Florida, just introduced into Iowa — could make a real difference."

In June, USA Today reported nearly two dozen American states had passed or were contemplating similar legislation. Last week, California voters approved their Proposition 83 with more than 70 percent of the vote for requiring convicted sex offenders who committed felonies and served time in prison to be monitored by GPS for life. However, the next day a federal judge issued a stay to block enforcement of part of the law, deeming it unconstitutional.