The state's highest court has made a decision on the use of a SCRAM bracelet.  

"A SCRAM bracelet is something they attach to the leg of a probationer, and it continuoulsy monitors their perspiration to determine their blood alcohol content, so it can determine if they've consumed alcohol," said Sullivan County District Attorney Jim Farrell.   

The Court of Appeals says a criminal court judge can require a person to wear and pay for one of these devices.  

"A probationer who can afford to pay for this SCRAM bracelet, as an alternative to incarceration, can be ordered by a court to pay for it. And it would not then be a charge that the taxpayers would have to pay the cost of," Farrell said.  

The DA sees paying the daily monitoring fee as a way to hold offenders accountable. But some say a person should not have to pay just because they have the finances to do so, and that the ruling may not help the taxpayer as much as you would think. 

"People that can pay for it have to pay for it, and then if they don't have the financial ability now, the county or state does pick up the tab. So it does alleviate some of the burden, but not all of it," said DWI lawyer Scott Russell. 

The devices reads the blood alcohol every 30 minutes as the person wears it. Those we spoke to, have different opinions on whether that invades privacy. 

"The person's monitored for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So I think that's overly intrusive into somebody's life," Russell said.  

"Don't threaten my family. Don't threaten my community's families by driving drunk, and then you don't get a condition whereby you can't consume alcohol," Farrell said. 

The person who wears and can pay for the bracelet would pay the daily monitoring fee based on what they can afford.