Increases in crime rates and imprisonment costs have resulted in more people being placed on probation. As costs escalate, probation is increasingly viewed as the least expensive and most desirable method of monitoring and controlling criminal offenders. In responding to the tasks of protecting, controlling, and rehabilitating, probation administrators have responded by developing such approaches as diversion programs, work release projects, restitution centers, work furlough facilities, case classification systems, supervision fees, and house arrest or home detention programs. Technological advances such as robotics and electronic surveillance are touted as the future of probation. The author, however, does not believe that electronic devices can make decisions about people, is not convinced that the long-term costs of electronic surveillance will be any less than the costs of probation staff, and indicates that human rights issues associated with electronic surveillance must be carefully examined.