Smartphone Solutions Defined

Leveraging Smartphone Applications 

In April 2020, the American Probation and Parole Association released a paper to address the use of smartphone applications to enhance community supervision.  

Released in April 2020, this position paper by the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) details the various solutions in today’s market. Given that many agencies are stretched to capacity, effective community supervision can only be accomplished if all available resources are fully leveraged. Agencies often look to technology to help them do more with less and many are now exploring smartphone applications as a way of providing cost-effective supervision services to their clients. This paper will address the use of smartphone applications installed on a client’s personal device, or a device provided to the client, to be used in support of the community supervision process.

Electronic supervision technologies (e.g., ankle bracelets) are often viewed in a negative context - as tools of surveillance and control. Smartphone applications, on the other hand, have the power and flexibility to be used to deliver positive reinforcements to the client.

Leveraging the Power of Smartphone applications to enhance community supervision. 

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