Young people on intensive supervision and surveillance programmes, a community-based alternative to prison, will test out the technology.
A Youth Justice Board spokeswoman said: "By using the satellite, we can keep an eye on the young person's whereabouts 24 hours a day. This will contribute to surveillance checks on young people."
It could also help to enforce exclusion zones. The spokeswoman added: "If there is an area where a magistrate says a young person can't go, the satellite will be able to identify if they have strayed into that area."
A Home Office spokesman said persistent offenders and young people under curfew as part of a court order were likely to be featured in the pilots for the scheme. Wessex is understood to be the area most likely to conduct the pilot.
John Fassenfelt, head of the Magistrates' Association's youth court committee, welcomed the proposals and said it could encourage more magistrates to consider using community-based sentences.
Barry Hugill, a spokesman for the civil rights group Liberty, said: "We are deeply worried about this but, given the choice between a custodial sentence and a tag, the tag would be a better option. Reluctantly, we would be in favour."
Plans to track people on community sentences by satellite were announced in the Home Office's five-year crime strategy, which was published last week (YPN, 21-27 July, p2).
See Analysis, p8.
