DUI Articles

Measuring Blood Alcohol with SCRAM Devices

Written Sept 17, 2007 Last Modified Sept 17, 2008

What is a SCRAM BAC Monitor

SCRAM is one of the newest technologies being utilized by the criminal justice system. It is a 6.5 to 8 ounce device used to remotely monitor the consumption of alcohol through a person’s perspiration. The Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor, or SCRAM as it is known, is worn around the ankle and looks like a pair of headphones. It has sensors which continuously measure the individual’s alcohol intake by measuring emissions of air and moisture from the skin.

How do SCRAM BAC Devices Work

The wireless device can detect any measure of alcohol of above .02 blood alcohol level. It then downloads the information through a modem to a company that monitors the information. The role of the monitoring agency is to track the offenders’ blood alcohol 24 hours a day and then forward the data to a probation officer or court personnel. The reports will reveal the exact time of day the offender started drinking, their blood alcohol level if they do drink and when their body has expelled all the alcohol. Overall this ensures public safety while allowing people accused of alcohol-related crimes to be out on the streets.

It is a totally different method of monitoring your alcohol intake continuously, without ordering you to come in for testing.

While people have found ways to beat breathalyzer tests, the SCRAM device is virtually tamper proof, as it cannot be taken off without the monitors being aware of it, because the sensors record tampering. In addition to testing for alcohol in a person’s sweat, the device also monitors skin temperature and picks up on anything placed between it and a person's skin, such as paper or fabric.

This technology is a valuable tool to assess whether offenders are actually abstaining from alcohol during their sentences or probation. Beside the fact that it can be expensive, especially since the expense must be paid by the user, there are other problems with this new technology. While it holds offenders responsible and directs them to the best treatment available, the effectiveness of this device is questionable.

Problems With SCRAM Monitoring

There is no scientific validation that this device is totally foolproof.

The SCRAM device is not for use as a quantitative analytical device, nor was it designed as such, according to the inventor Jeffrey Hawthorne. According to Hawthorne there are too many factors that cannot be controlled, and therefore the SCRAM should only be used as a screening device.

Despite its growing popularity as a trans-dermal alcohol measuring device, there have been no complete studies on the diffusion of alcohol through the skin and according to Hawthorne, this is an issue that is still not totally understood.

Overall, due to the lack of thorough research and lack of scientific evidence to prove its reliability, it can trigger a "false positive" result. A “false positive” result is one where the subject tests positive for alcohol without actually consuming alcohol. The technology used by the machine has been shown to be non-specific to ethyl alcohol (the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages). What this means is that it is difficult to determine whether positive readings came from a beverage or from food prepared with alcohol. Furthermore, interferences in the reading can arise from environmental sources of alcohol, such as anti-freeze, wallpaper paste and other household chemicals such as solvents.

Another factor that complicates matters is that a device using a fuel cell, like the one found in the SCRAM tether, can also be triggered by internally produced alcohol. This means that Acetone produced by the body during the breakdown of fats, will cause the body to internally produce alcohol, resulting in the subsequent emission of alcohol. Diabetics produce a kind of alcohol which could be detected as interference. A number of foods including certain types of chocolate cake, apple walnut bread, raisin bread, sourdough English muffins, cause the body to produce endogenous alcohol which can give a positive reading on a measuring device. The machine may measure certain metabolic functions as alcohol thereby rendering a “false positive” as alcohol may be generated through metabolism as food converts to energy in the body.

Despite all the controversy surrounding the SCRAM device, it is widely used and approximately 23 states use the SCRAM device. It was first sold to probation departments in Michigan in June 2004.

While it may feel clunky and look embarrassing, it is eventually a 24 hour watch dog, one that can send a person back to court and back to jail.

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