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Results for transdermal alcohol monitoring

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Author: Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services

Title: Review of Applicability of Transdermal Continuous Alcohol Monitoring Devices for First-Time DUI Convictions

Summary: Transdermal alcohol monitoring devices detect drinking by sensing alcohol that passes through perspiration in the skin. Independent evaluations have concluded that the science behind transdermal alcohol testing is sound (Barnett, 2011), and the devices themselves are generally reliable and accurate (McKnight, 2012). This technology has been commercially available since 2003 and has been used as a supervisory tool in pre-trial and probation/parole programs, in domestic violence cases with alcohol, drugs courts, and in treatment settings. Non-compliance readings from the devices have been found court-admissible with expert witness testimony. There have been some successful court challenges to the devices in the past, but improvements to the technology have addressed the issues that were raised in the court challenges. After alcohol is consumed and metabolized through the body, it is excreted through the skin via perspiration. The amount of alcohol excreted through perspiration is called transdermal alcohol content (TAC). Transdermal alcohol monitoring devices are a secured ankle bracelet worn continuously that uses a sensor to sample the wearer's perspiration to measure TAC at a specific time interval. The device does not measure alcohol content in the breath or blood, and it measures TAC only above a certain threshold; it may not register low-level amounts of alcohol in the wearer's system. These devices can also detect environmental alcohols, such as in personal care products or in the air (for example, in a bar or an industrial environment), or, rarely, alcohol produced naturally in the body after metabolizing large quantities of certain foods. These can lead to a false reading of a drinking event, or a "false positive." As an anti-tamper measure, the bracelet also contains sensors that sample the wearer’s body temperature and the device's proximity to the skin. The collected TAC, temperature, and proximity readings are stored in the ankle bracelet. Offenders are both fitted with these devices and monitored by a private, for-profit service. Readings from the ankle bracelet are usually downloaded once a day to the monitoring service's central repository via a modem located in the wearer's home. One monitoring service uses the cellular network to download readings, and advertises that it can notify supervisors of suspected offender drinking events in near-real time via cellular text, email, or voice notification. The readings from the bracelet are used to produce reports of the wearer's drinking events, tamper attempts, or other forms of noncompliance. Non-compliance and offender status reports are accessible to court personnel by logging on to a secure website. There are three transdermal alcohol monitoring systems commercially available today: the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring system (trademark SCRAM) manufactured by Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS), the Transdermal Alcohol Detection System (trademark BI-TAD) from BI Incorporated, and CAM Patrol Plus from G4S Justice Services. Table 2 summarizes some of the feature of each of these systems. SCRAM was the first transdermal CAM system on the market and is currently in widest use. SCRAMx is the latest version of the AMS system.

Details: Richmond: Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, 2013. 11p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 5, 2015 at: https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/research/documents/Alcohol_Monitor_Report_FINAL.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/research/documents/Alcohol_Monitor_Report_FINAL.pdf

Shelf Number: 136676

Keywords:
Alternatives to Incarceration
Driving Under the Influence
Drunk Driving
Electronic Monitoring
Transdermal Alcohol Monitoring