ACLU of Delaware Sues Over GPS Monitoring

WILMINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, Inc. filed a law suit today challenging the constitutionality and application of a state statute under which every Tier III sex offender on probation or parole is forced to wear a GPS monitor and pay a daily charge even for offenses committed before the statute was enacted in 2007 and without any determination by a court that they are a danger or that the monitoring would increase public safety.

“The plaintiffs in this suit and many others in the state, are being forced to wear and pay for GPS monitors even though it has never been determined that monitoring them increases public safety. The U.S. Supreme Court about a month ago affirmed the argument in our suit based on a case out of North Carolina. It is time for Delaware to suspend the automatic use of GPS monitoring,” said Richard H. Morse, ACLU-DE Legal Director.

The suit is brought on behalf of three plaintiffs whose identity is being kept confidential with court approval. All three individuals were convicted of offenses well before the 2007 law was enacted.