Technology in Criminal Justice Management - Research Paper Example

Technology in Criminal Justice Management Over the recent years, modern technology has continued to make its way into every facet of our lives. Criminal justice management has not been left behind with modern technology solidifying its place in oversight, supervision and management of criminal justice systems. Managers in Criminal justice have incorporated various technological applications in their information systems and databases to ensure smooth flow of information. This is to help them to: manage resources, protect the members of the public, protect officers, improve efficiency of justice, protect the innocent and confirm the guilty, and enable informed decision making. These technological applications have helped to achieve all these objectives and consequently fetching numerous advantages. It had also to stabilize some former systems which caused some disadvantages to stakeholders in criminal justice department. This has however not caused much concerns because all fundamental levels of criminal justice management have been improved by the new technology whereby a wide range of technologies is used to support justice system, including computers, telephony, weapons, database management software, and automobiles. Use of technology has also affected the shape of practices and policies of justice system. This has improved the capacity of information sharing, data processing, and communications across and within justice agencies for better management of criminal justice activities. Technology in Criminal Justice Management The modern world has experienced improvements in every of its aspects. Criminal activities have grown more complex and, therefore, there is increased need for sophisticated systems to secure societies. With sophisticated crimes, managers of the criminal justice systems have embraced new technologies as a way of coping with these crimes. Many technological devices, applications, and systems have been put in place to better criminal justice (Byrne & Marx, 2011). Technological applications in criminal justice management are classified into hard and soft technologies. Hard technologies are hardware or material while soft technologies are information systems and computer software. Devices commonly used include metal detectors, CCTV cameras, and other citizen protection devices (Byrne & Marx, 2011). Many of these devices work with well designed software that helps personnel in criminal justice department to perform their work appropriately. They help in criminal identifications by use of biometrics and keep data which is helpful for future use by all relevant departments. Crime in modern times has got sophisticated due to new developed instruments which criminals have access to. New technology has made it to able for the police to map crime, analyze it, share and keep appropriate criminal records to be able to monitor progress of ex-criminals (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). There are no sufficient resources within the criminal justice departments to ensure that justice is maintained in the society without straining. Managers in criminal justice departments in both federal and state governments have turned to the new technology to ensure that members of the public are protected from criminals and potential criminals (PERF, 2011). In some cases, crimes are very complicated and therefore without some technological applications it is impossible to gather appropriate information to bring those responsible into book. This has made managers in criminal justice to deploy devices in various places to enable them collect important information (United Nations, 2003). In events where there were no eye witnesses to give information, these devices allow prosecutors to obtain necessary information to charge suspects with the crime (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). These devices are also very helpful in cases where members of the public are concern about their security to an extent that they can’t give information. Without these devices, such cases will be beyond handling by the criminal justice management and therefore they have proven their importance. All agencies involved in criminal justice activities have no enough personnel to patrol all areas of interest in order to give evidence of crimes reports in different areas in the country (PERF, 2011). Effective communication systems allow criminal justice managers to handle their activities from everywhere. Databases containing officer’s information has been created to ensure that they are managed appropriately (Byrne & Marx, 2011). Various surveillance and notification mechanisms enable timely deployment of officers. The security of data stored in various databases in criminal justice agencies are also a concern. Improved applications and devices in criminal justices systems have helped criminal justice managers to secure their information against criminals and other malicious individuals (Welsh & Farrington, 2006). Use of technology in criminal justice management has ensured that every stakeholder is treated justly by the law. Storage of appropriate data has ensured that all criminals and potential criminals are monitored so as to deter them from committing crimes. Members of the public in this case have been protected against the potential harm by the criminals. Chances of innocent people being jailed have reduced since it is possible to confirm the criminal based on the data collected at the scene of crime (United Nations, 2003). Officers’ records are stored properly in database that is used to assign them duties in a systematic manner that helps to avoid overworking some of them (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). All information stored in systems is secured from access by unauthorized individuals. The criminal justice managers are able to use the available information to make sound decisions on how to improve the quality of justice. New technology has also led to clear understanding among all agencies in United States who deal with criminal justice (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). Agencies are able to share intelligence information and conduct their investigation and surveillance separately so as to make sure that all crimes, terrorism activities and any other activity against the law is identified, analyzed and its perpetrators brought to book. Sharing of intelligence information improve the efficiency of all criminal justice systems. The major goal of criminal justice is protection of the members of the public. With management based on modern technology, there have been appropriate mechanisms in place to monitor criminals and potential criminals. By use of modern technology, U.S criminal justice department has been able to allocate the available resources appropriately so as to monitor various situations in all parts across the country (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). All known criminals both proved and potential are monitored continuously so as to keep them off from undertaking criminal activities. Tracking devices makes it possible to monitor both criminals in custody and those outside. Use of drones and other aerial surveillance mechanisms are able to identify, locate and track unlawful activities. They are also able to locate missing persons and exist among the members of the public unnoticed. Criminal justice department has also been able to put in place automatic public warning systems in institutions, shopping areas, sporting venues and public transit (United Nations, 2003). These systems helps members of the public evade danger whenever it is looming. Modern technology has made it possible to detect concealed weapons, vehicle borne Improvised Explosive Devices (EDs) and track both cooperative and uncooperative criminals (Byrne & Marx, 2011). It is also possible with the use of modern technology to in capacitate criminals and deter them from committing crimes. Vehicles suspected to cause harm to the members of the public can be stopped anywhere by use of remote control mechanisms. Provision of timely and accurate information has made it possible to establish effective emergency response systems whenever there is a need (PERF, 2011). To ensure public safety is achieved, all officers of the criminal justice agencies are protected. Management of criminal justice cannot succeed in its operations if its officers are not protected from criminals. This has made it apply appropriate mechanisms to make sure that its officers are secure. Individual’s identities are confirmed and fixed in a timely manner and share the information with officers in various operations (United Nations, 2003). Criminal justice management has put in place, appropriate equipments and facilities to make sure that all information system users are clearly identified to avoid intrusion to officers’ information by criminals. Accurate identity check across all data systems and multiple jurisdiction are made regularly are automatically to verify the users of the information stored in Criminal Justice department systems (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). Also ability to collect information biometrically from crime scene helps officers know, locate and track criminals when fully prepared to do so. Wireless communications are detected and disconnected automatically by specially designed system. Health of officers and inmates are also monitored so as to offer medications where required and consequently avoid possible outbreaks of contagious diseases. Surveillance systems alert officers over looming dangers before they occur. Available resources have also been allocated to officers for their safety and wellbeing. This way, all officers have been protected against criminal activities. Available resources have been mobilized to come up with flexible armor which can protect officers for criminal attacks. Modern armors have internal deformation mechanisms that enable them deform so as to reduce impacts of the criminal weapons (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). Some of the armors used are also helpful in resisting moisture, flames, radiations, and pathogens. To protect officers from bombs, criminal justice managements have deployed resources to create robots and robotic tools for detonating bombs instead of human bomb technicians. Use of technology has reduced time for investigations since it helps to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent. It can expand information extracted from other types of forensic evidence and quantify its evidentiary value. Biological markers can also be characterized or identified to give biological evidence. New and improved tools have made it possible to examine DNA and match it correctly with the criminals for clear identification (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). They also make quantitative measure of forensic comparisons on impression evidence and sperms among others. This information is fed into systems that are able to spread it to other agencies so that they can use it to administer justice to different people at different positions. In order to protect information in the criminal justice systems, new technological tools have been designed to help in recovering files, applications, operating system files and deleted files among others (PERF, 2011). This ensures that even if criminals and other malicious individual delete important information, they can be recovered and restored into the system. New security tools have also been put in place to protect the systems against sophisticated means used by criminals to access information in criminal justice databases. Efficiency of justice has improved greatly with the help of modern technology. High quality intelligent decision support systems have been put in place to optimize sentencing taking into account safety, recidivism and cost issues. The way various agencies in criminal justice organize and deploy their resources have been optimized to include improved manpower scheduling and management (United Nations, 2003). Modern databases have been organized to link individual’s criminal records with citations across criminal databases from the time a criminal enters criminal judicial systems onwards (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). Various web applications used make it possible to share evidence over the internet from various databases when convicting a criminal. For public safety, multilingual speech translation devices have been installed to communicate important safety information o members of the public at various locations. Improved laboratory information management systems have also been created to keep information secure and ensure fair justice all the time. Information stored in these systems are obtained from improved screening methods and undertaken through automated forensic analysis process for confirmation (Byrne & Marx, 2011). There are better methods that have been put in place to make sure that biological materials collected in the crime scenes can be screened and their evidentiary value are accurately determined within a short period of time. Improved tools in place have made it possible to effectively store available biological evidence for future retrieval and use. Electronic databases are able to store huge amounts of data which prove to be very crucial in enforcing justice especially in cases involving criminals that were convicted in the past (United Nations, 2003). Proper management of these modern databases has made it easy for administration of justice for all members of the public using the available resources. Decisions made by criminal justice management with extensive use of technological applications are very much informed. There has been unlimited ways to communicate across the entire criminal justice department. Wired and non-wired communication networks are in place to facilitate communication in all departmental levels (PERF, 2011). There are also other means of communication such as vehicular and mobile hybrid technology among others. They enhance communication which is effective, instantaneous, operable, interoperable and user-transparent under all justice seeking circumstances (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). There are improved spatial technologies and tools that help in analyzing relationships among organizations, groups, and people of interest to criminal justice agencies and their geographical linkages. These tools keep checking the capabilities of various technological tools accessible to criminals to exploit crime related databases. Law enforcing officers are able to access information of interest using their hand held devices to enhance justice. With these tools, large buildings can be mapped or subjected to 3-D geo-coding to obtain information of interest about a certain location inside the building involved (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). It has also been possible to engineer better solutions for effective management and integration of sensor systems involved in law control and enforcement command systems. Automated case communication and management systems have also been put in place to enable officers and offenders to track compliant with conditions of release and take necessary actions. Use of modern technology has brought a lot of benefits to all stakeholders in the entire criminal justice department. Criminal justice systems run on information about potential defendants and criminal incidents (United Nations, 2003). There are records about people who are imprisoned either awaiting trial or serving their sentences. There are records about the court process including outcomes of past events and scheduled events. These records affect the way people in the system are treated and may have impacts on the outcome of individual’s cases. The quality, quantity, and timeliness of information are important to all stakeholders in the criminal justice system (United Nations, 2003). Efficiency of Information flow affects the way the whole system operates. This means that the quality of justice dispensed and the efficiency of the criminal justice system are to large extend inter-related. Criminal justice managers and administrators must therefore understand how cases flow though their system. For this to be achieved, modern technology has played a great role in ensuring there are no delays of information access from the system. Management of criminal justice has also been able to ensure that dignities of all individuals in the criminal justice systems are respected. The main reason behind using modern technology is to improve the quality and time lines of information within and across criminal justice system (PERF, 2011). When this is ensured, decision making process is improved and consequently reducing obstacles that criminal justice managers face. In addition, high quality and timely information indicates availability of more information for policy analysis (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). Lastly, high quality and more timely information increase criminal justice system efficiency which is very important in managing the system. Manual information that existed prior to incorporation of modern technology made availability of timely, high quality, and accurate information unlikely. Modern technology has therefore set the bases of improving existing system by reducing delays and improving the quality of the information circulation within criminal justice system (Welsh & Farrington, 2006). Over the years, societies and the nature of crime have grown complex and therefore the structure of required data to appropriately manage criminal justice system has also become more complex (PERF, 2011). These complexities have obviously overwhelmed the manuals systems which consequently paved way for computerize system. This is required so as for the criminal justice departments to b able to investigate complex crimes in the modern society. Improved computerized system has also enabled criminal justice departments to allocate scarce resources and provide more information to criminal justice managers concerning officers, criminal events and crimes (United Nations, 2003). The way this information is used has also evolved with time hence making managers to change from using simple statistics to statistical models for count of events. More powerful spatial and graphical analysis has been used with the new computerized systems because they need access, speed and proper dimensionality of the available data. The need for officers and organizations to share security data increases as the complexity and scope of crimes increases. There are several organizations and agencies with the government that have specified interests in the security information stored in the criminal justice systems. This calls for a more efficient system of communication that can only be made possible through use of modern technology. Modern technology has made it possible to share relevant information that facilitates making informed decisions on pursuance of criminal justice and crime prevention goals (Holder, Robinson & Rose, 2009). Effective information sharing therefore enhances evaluation, planning and monitoring of all activities of the criminal justice management. Use of technology in criminal justice management has improved operations in many ways. Number of employees required by any criminal justice agency has decreased. This is because technological applications and devices are able to perform most of the tasks that were performed by employees (Scherpenzeel, n.d.). Need of clerks and store keepers has also decreased due emergence of paperless offices within the criminal justice department. In addition to this, security of information stored and the ease of retrieval has improved. New databases have systems that make it possible to project the future expansion of criminal justice departments. This enables management to plan for expansion of prisons, employees more prosecutors and new operators of systems to be created to accommodate this expansion (Scherpenzeel, n.d.). Every planning activity in all criminal justice agencies have been improved and made easy. Costs that were once incurred during planning in pre-technological times have greatly been reduced. Operations have been efficient and relationships among officers and different levels of managements within criminal justice management have improved due to smooth flow of information (Scherpenzeel, n.d.). Although technology in the criminal justice management has brought unlimited advantages, they have also come up with a number of disadvantages. Reduced numbers of employees required has contributed to increase level off unemployment. Setting up the devices needed for surveillance is very costly (Welsh & Farrington, 2006). Also establishing a working systems and database is very expensive as it requires a lot of resources. People with very high technical skills are required to operate and maintain these systems and therefore expenses incurred in training and salaries are raised (Scherpenzeel, n.d.). Errors, technological failures and network breakdown may delay delivery of important information and services in time. This may delay decision making by the management and consequently affect operations. Forensic analysis processes are very expensive and sometimes they may give misleading information due to technical errors (United Nations, 2003). This may lead to conviction of innocent individuals or release of criminals. These are among the major disadvantages of use of technology in criminal justice management. Modern technology has solidified its place in criminal justice. With the rising sophistication of crime, systems for addressing them needed to be complex which was only made possible by modern technology. Management of criminal justice systems and resources has been efficient with the new technological applications. This has seen criminal justice managers to plan effectively for all operations in the department and project future improvements. Although operating costs of criminal justice agencies might have increased, the success of their activities justifies the costs. Sometimes technical errors and network breakdowns slow information flow but this is insignificant compared to the success that modern systems have brought in management and operations of criminal justice agencies. References Byrne, J. & Marx, G. 2011. Technological Innovations in Crime Prevention and Policing. A Review of the Research on Implementation and Impact. CPS 2011-3, nr. 20, p. 17-40. Retrieved on 21st June, 2014 from: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/238011.pdf Holder, E. H., Robinson, L. O. & Rose, K. 2009. High-priority criminal justice technology needs. National Institute of Justice. Retrieved on 21st June, 2014 from: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/225375.pdf Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). 2011. “Use of technology in Policing: The chief’s perspective” Critical Issues in Policing Series. Washington, D.C. Police Executive Research Forum. Scherpenzeel, R. n.d. Key issues in introducing information technology in criminal justice: United Nations assistance to member states. Retrieved on 21st June, 2014 from: http://www.uncjin.org/Other/korebo/chapter3.pdf United Nations. 2003. Manual for the Development of a System of Criminal Justice Statistics. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division. Studies in Methods, Series F No. 89: Retrieved on 21st June, 2014 from: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesF/SeriesF_89e.pdf Welsh, B.C .and Farrington, D.P. 2006. Preventing Crime: What Works for Children, Offenders, Victims, and Places. New York: Springer. Read More