This simple suggestion could help address our domestic violence crisis

It's not the colour, but the meaning behind it.

A simple indicator to everyone that the person wearing it, whether they are at work, playing sport or at the shops, is a perpetrator of domestic violence.

The idea of a coloured monitoring bracelet was raised in Orange District Court in NSW this month when a man, sentenced in the local court to full-time custody for violence towards his former partner, appealed.

His solicitor made submissions, which included an Intensive Correction Order (jail in the community) with home detention, when the idea of the electronic bracelet surfaced.

Electronic monitoring is among a suite of tools used to supervise offenders in the community, including sex offenders, domestic violence offenders, those on works release or subject to post-sentence supervision orders.

The monitoring is conducted by the Electronic and External Monitoring Group, within Community Corrections, which fits the equipment, monitors anklet charge levels and tracks offender movements 24/7.

The ankle bracelets are tamper-proof and difficult to remove, in line with the latest technology.

Exclusion zones are applied to offenders; if they enter a prohibited region, an alarm is immediately sent back to the monitoring room and breach action is taken accordingly.

Considering the options before the court, Judge Penny Musgrave spoke about the court's role in stepping in "behind closed doors" to try to address the issue of domestic violence.

She said she had to be realistic about the nature of perpetrators.

"The court steps in on matters behind closed doors because, by all accounts, offenders are otherwise balanced and measured people ... that's the pressing issue," she said.

The need for community safety was paramount, she said, as was how best to address the issue while also denouncing the behaviour.

In the matter before her, she posed a question to both parties - what can be done to protect the victim? - before asking if electronic monitoring was an option in regional areas.

"I turn to both of you. One option is home detention with electronic monitoring. I don't know what scope there is for it. It could be a useful inquiry to make?" she said.

On the topic, Judge Musgrave made her own, simple suggestion: a coloured bracelet which would identify a person as a domestic violence offender.

Judge Musgrave said the colour would serve as "a significant form of denunciation and specific deterrence".

She said electronic monitoring could be used in a multi-faceted function.

"In summer, you're not going to be able to hide it," she said.

"Perhaps it should be a specific colour for DV offenders. And I don't say that lightly."

When asked what the NSW Attorney-General thought about coloured bracelets as a form of general deterrence and denunciation, a spokesperson for the Department of Communities and Justice did not elaborate on the idea.

Instead, they said the government "is continuing work to make NSW a safer place to live and increase protections for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence".

"The NSW Government has recently introduced a requirement for persons accused of certain serious domestic violence offences who are released on bail to be electronically monitored by Corrective Services NSW. As part of this, an alleged offender is not permitted to be released from custody until fitted with an electronic monitoring device," they said.

"The introduction of electronic monitoring for alleged domestic violence offenders released on bail complements previous changes to the Bail Act 2013. Earlier this year, the Government significantly tightened bail laws for people charged with serious domestic violence offences, forcing them to 'show cause' why they shouldn't be detained.

"This change has made it harder than ever for alleged serious domestic violence offenders to get bail."

Bathurst-based domestic violence support worker, Sandra Peckham, who has worked with domestic violence survivors for decades, welcomed the idea of electronic monitoring as a whole, and didn't mind the idea of a coloured bracelet.

"We need to know where these people are at all times," she said, adding that they could have bracelets in colours so that really dangerous DV offenders can be identified.

"It [the bracelet] could give us a level of how dangerous they are... are they high risk or low risk."

Vanessa Mackay, a DV specialist who works alongside Ms Peckham, also saw merit in the idea, with both saying open discussions were needed on tackling the overall issue.

"A lot [of DV] is kept behind closed doors, so I think having that [a specifically coloured bracelet] could help as a deterrent," she said.

"I think the stance on DV at the moment is good, and definitely a coloured bracelet could make a difference.

"It might help in changing the perception of the community, that it's [domestic violence] not okay, and help bring that out in the public."