TESTING is to be carried out to consider if GPS tracking technology should be used to monitor sex offenders and those who carry out domestic abuse, the Justice Secretary has announced.
Kenny MacAskill said there was the potential for such technology to be used, but added a new expert group would carry out thorough testing before making recommendations to ministers after some concerns were raised.
As well as studying the effectiveness of GPS monitoring, the new working group will consider if electronic devices which can detect if someone has been drinking could be used to help manage criminals.
Police Scotland, the Scottish Prison Service, security firm G4S, the Violence Reduction Unit, Social Work Scotland, the Judicial Institute for Scotland and academics will all be on the new group, which will hold its first meeting early in November.
Electronic monitoring of offenders has been used in Scotland since 2002, with tagging used in a bid to control where criminals could and could not go.
It is now used to help monitor a number of different community sentences, as well as being included in licence conditions when convicts are released.
The Scottish Government has consulted on how electronic devices could be used in the future to help manage offenders and improve public safety.
Mr MacAskill said: "GPS technology appears to offer potential opportunities for the management of sex offenders or to be used in cases of domestic abuse.
"However, some concerns have been raised into the effectiveness of this, so I want the new expert group to carry out thorough testing and make recommendations to the Scottish Government."
A number of those who responded to the consultation raised concerns about whether the use of GPS tracking was a proportionate response while others commented that new legislation would be required to ensure human rights are protected.
A working group will meet for the first time in November.
Its aim is to increase understanding of the capabilities of the technology and explore whether it can be developed to address other types of offending behaviour.
It will ensure that victims interests are at the heart of decisions, the Scottish Government pledged.
Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell said: "We have been calling for the introduction of GPS tracking to track sex offenders since 2007 but the SNP has dragged their heels on its introduction.
"As a result, some offenders who are supposed to be under the watch of the authorities have fled the country and gone missing.
"Any further delays in implementing GPS tracking could increase the risk to the public from these people re-offending."
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