Government Technology

Mass. GPS Law to Protect Domestic Violence Victims


January 4, 2007 By

Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey Wednesday hailed the signing of legislation that authorizes courts to require domestic abusers who violate existing restraining orders to wear a GPS tracking device.

These devices will automatically notify the authorities and the victims should an offender enter geographic "exclusion zones" set by the court. Offenders with the financial means will also be responsible for the expense of the GPS bracelet, which is estimated to cost $10 per person per day.

"This law leverages the power of technology to provide a much-needed new level of protection to victims of domestic abuse, too many of whom continue to be victimized even after successfully obtaining a restraining order against their abusers," said Healey. "Today in Massachusetts, scores of victims are driven from their homes, their jobs -- from their lives -- by batterers who repeatedly violate existing court orders. This new ability to exclude offenders from areas frequented by the victims will not only protect them from further abuse, it will give them their lives back."

Diane Rosenfeld, a lecturer at Harvard Law School, presented the idea of GPS monitoring for batterers to the Governor's Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence, which Healey chairs, in early 2005. "This law finally enables us to provide a response to domestic abuse designed to prevent future violence. This legislation puts the responsibility for battering where it belongs -- on the offender," said Rosenfeld.

The legislation, filed by Healey in February 2005, was signed into law today by Governor Romney. In recent weeks, Healey lobbied for passage of the bill, a long-held priority of hers. "This is extremely gratifying to me personally, and I thank everyone in the Legislature who helped to put this important policy initiative on the books," said Healey.


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