The Ankle Monitor's Albuquerque Origin

Curious story:

Jack Love was a lawyer, a prosecutor, a judge — and a fan of Spiderman.

In the comic strip that ran in newspapers on Tuesday, August 9, 1977, the villain Kingpin slaps an “electronic radar device” on Spiderman’s wrist, letting him track the friendly neighborhood superhero’s location. Love filed the idea away.

A few years later, University of Albuquerque criminologist Walter Niederberger got a phone call from the judge.

“He had read that and thought I was a forward-looking criminologist and would I be interested in doing the research if he could find funding,” said Niederberger.

He was interested, and as Love’s idea moved from comic-strip fancy to reality, so did a research grant from the National Institute of Justice.

By early 1983, Judge Love had begun piloting the technology with people convicted of nonviolent, low-risk crimes. Court personnel attached transmitters to their ankles, which were effectively used as a form of house arrest. Receivers were connected to land-based telephone lines and each morning, the judge could read over a report that showed potential violations.