Lex talionis, one of the oldest principals of justice, came about as a limitation on retribution specifically because giving “relatives of people murdered” an excessive role in deciding the application of justice was recognized millennia ago as a fatal mistake for any kind of orderly society.
If this was a punishment for an offense, it would be unconstitutional as a violation of the right to trial.
If it is a condition of pre-trial release, it is would appear to be unconstitutional as a violation of due process, because this appears to be an arbitrary executive substitution of equipment with substantially different function, not part of the terms imposed by the court.
> The alternative is juvenile detention.
No, the alternative is pretrial release with GPS monitoring without audio surveillance as they were apparently actually assigned and as was done before the switch of equipment.
> But no, keep going on with the out of touch "awww, those poor innocent angels" crap.
I don't think anyone here has suggested that the children involved are categorically substantively innocent, though as this is pretrial monitoring they are categorically legally presumed innocent.
The hormonal peaks and incompletely developed executive function that made male adolescents excellent pawns in violent policy (and also contributes to their engagement in violent crime, often as similar pawns) is exactly part of them substantively being a kid.