Require GPS monitoring for offenders
Petitioners ask the House to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to require active GPS monitoring, including geofencing, for federally sentenced intimate‑partner violence offenders assessed as high‑risk, with individualized assessments, written reasons for exceptions, timely victim notification and safety planning.
Why we would sign this petition
- Active GPS and geofencing would strengthen supervision and help prevent contact, stalking, and escalation by enforcing exclusion zones and detecting breaches.
- A presumption of monitoring with individualized assessments and required written exceptions would promote consistent, transparent release decisions while preserving case-by-case judgment.
- Petitioners argue monitoring's modest cost could reduce reoffending-related expenses and social harms, making it a cost-effective public-safety measure.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Mandatory GPS monitoring raises privacy and civil‑liberty concerns and may be seen as disproportionate for some individuals despite risk assessments.
- GPS and geofencing have technical and enforcement limits and may not stop forms of abuse that don't rely on proximity, so effectiveness isn't guaranteed.
- Implementing and supervising active monitoring adds administrative complexity and costs, could burden corrections systems, and might divert resources from other victim supports.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled In cases involving high-risk federal offenders convicted of intimate partner violence, current release conditions alone may be insufficient to prevent further contact, intimidation, stalking, coercive control, escalation, or other harm; Active GPS electronic monitoring, including geofencing and exclusion-zone enforcement where appropriate, can provide a more effective means of supervising compliance with release conditions and enhancing victim safety; The cost of active GPS electronic monitoring is modest when compared with the substantial economic and social costs associated with reoffending, enforcement, emergency response, incarceration, and renewed victimization; A presumption in favour of active GPS electronic monitoring in appropriate high-risk cases would promote consistency, transparency, and public safety, while preserving individualized assessment and permitting documented exceptions where monitoring is not necessary or proportionate; and Victims and protected persons should receive timely notice, meaningful consultation, and practical safety-planning support, including information respecting exclusion zones and breach-response protocols. We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, S.C. 1992, c. 20, to require active GPS electronic monitoring, including geofencing where appropriate, for federal offenders convicted of intimate partner violence who are assessed as posing a serious risk upon community release to create a presumption in favour of such monitoring in high-risk cases, subject to individualized risk assessment and written reasons for any exception, and to ensure timely notification, victim-centred safety planning, and related protective measures for affected victims and protected persons.
Government response
No government response is available yet.