forecast

GPS Monitoring Could Slash Crime And Prison Population

Placing GPS monitoring on people under criminal-justice jurisdiction creates a strong deterrent—monitored people commit virtually no crime because locations can be cross-referenced with crime databases—so offering voluntary early release in exchange for monitoring could, by back-of-envelope estimates, reduce violent crime by 25% while simultaneously reducing the prison population by 25%, benefiting government, society, and offenders.

forecastpending

Speaker

Steven Levitt

Evidence Quote

the reason we lock people up, by and large, is because we fear the crimes they will do if they're not locked up.

Source

Steven Levitt on Freakonomics and the State of EconomicsEconTalk
Created: 6/13/2026, 12:19:15 AM

My Notes

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