Time and time again, throughout the history of our courts, a technology will be released, aimed at proving X, Y or Z, with an attempt to make the system easier for all. While this technology appears to be ideal for lawyers and judges, none are fully trained to understand why we shouldn’t rely on them as evidence in the court of law.
The SCRAM Scam
One of the latest iterations of this new technology is called the SCRAM bracelet. The “experts” and businesspeople have sold the judicial system on the idea that this costly bracelet can reliably tell you if someone has been drinking alcohol. It measures perspiration on the bracket wearer's skin, and collects data to be closely monitored. As a result, judges have been ordering suspects to wear these bracelets (at the cost to the accused) while they are on pre-trial release or on probation.
Are SCRAM bracelets reliable? Our criminal defense attorneys in Vancouver don’t think so. In a recent case, our client was ordered to wear a SCRAM bracelet while on supervised release. Just one problem… the SCRAM bracelet can give shockingly false positive readings.
Shortly after our client started wearing the bracelet we were notified by supervised release that the local SCRAM affiliate was alerted that our client had been drinking. Upon talking to our client, he made it very clear to us that he had not been drinking at all. This made sense since he was regularly subjected to random UAs.
Our criminal defense attorneys work hard for not only our clients, but for all subjected to the SCRAM bracelet, to prove that it cannot be used as a reliable source of data. Eventually we proved that our client was right and the SCRAM bracelet was unreliable to the point that the assistant city attorney in the case completely withdrew the SCRAM bracelet allegation.
At Angus Lee Law Firm, our criminal defense attorneys are ready to take on any criminal defense challenges and hurdles. Contact us today for your free case evaluation.
Angus Lee
A criminal defense lawyer in Vancouver, Washington. He serves as lead trial counsel and has extensive trial experience in criminal law. He previously served as a deputy prosecutor, a two time elected county prosecutor, a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, and a U.S. Marine.