On July 1, 2024, Tennessee enacted a pioneering law mandating GPS monitoring for the most violent domestic offenders. This law, born out of a tragic incident, is the first of its kind in the United States.
The impetus for the law was a harrowing event on April 12, 2021, when Debbie Sisco and her daughter, Marie Varsos, were brutally murdered outside Nashville by Marie’s estranged husband, Shaun Varsos. After committing the double homicide, Shaun Varsos took his own life. He had previously been released on bail despite having strangled and threatened Marie with a gun a month earlier.
Marie’s brother, Alex Youn, was left devastated by the loss of his mother and sister. “Two people that I love dearly were just quickly ripped out of my life,” Youn said. He believes that had a judge required GPS tracking as a condition of Varsos’s bail, his mother and sister might still be alive. Judges currently have the discretion to mandate GPS monitoring for bail but often choose not to.
Fueled by his grief and anger, Youn successfully campaigned for mandated GPS tracking of aggravated assault offenders in domestic violence cases, resulting in the passage of the Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act.
Domestic violence statistics from the CDC reveal the gravity of the issue, with one in four women and one in seven men falling victim to domestic violence. Jennifer Waindle, deputy director of the Battered Women’s Justice Project, highlighted the recurring nature of such violence. “When there’s firearms at play, when there’s strangulation, when there’s elevated stalking, [offenders] are more likely to do it again,” Waindle explained.
The new law leverages GPS technology to provide victims with real-time notifications if their abuser violates an order of protection. Offenders equipped with GPS devices can be monitored to ensure they stay away from designated exclusion zones, such as the victim’s home. Victims receive alerts via phone apps or electronic devices if the offender breaches these zones, prompting a monitoring center to notify law enforcement.
Ray Gandolf, director of business development for Tennessee AMS, emphasized the critical nature of timely alerts. “Every second matters,” Gandolf said. These alerts give victims precious moments to seek safety, contact authorities, or find a secure location.
Youn is hopeful that Tennessee’s initiative will inspire other states to adopt similar measures. “I’m hopeful that other states will potentially sort of look at what Tennessee is sort of doing and take this and implement it in other states as well,” he said.