Researcher's experience of wearing a GPS-EM device

The United States (US) has pioneered the use of Global Positioning System-Electronic Monitoring (GPS-EM) technology within the sphere of community based corrections. Typically a number of conditions are imposed on offenders on GPS-EM sanctions, but the key condition imposed is wearing the GPS-EM device. As there is no research analysing the GPS-EM device's impact on the wearer, the primary author (from here on referred to as 'the researcher'), using autoethnography as a methodology, trialled wearing the GPS-EM device for a 14-day period. The aim was to assess several operational aspects of the device, particularly pertaining to its wearability including physical, psychological and social impacts. The researcher performed ordinary activities while having movements tracked and restricted in accordance with the specified curfew and predetermined inclusion and exclusion zones. The findings indicated that the GPS-EM device was relatively easy to operate and that a number of burdensome physical, psychological and social impacts were associated with wearing it.