Effects of Technology on Criminal Justice Practice in America - Report Example

Running Head: Effects of Technology on Criminal Justice Practice in America Effects of Technology on Criminal Justice Practice in America Name] [Institute’s Name] Effects of Technology on Criminal Justice Practice in America Since last century, a rapid advancement is observed in the sector of information technology. In specific, a number of areas have integrated technology, in order to operate the functions and manage them more effectively and efficiently. In this regard, criminal justice system of the United States has also incorporated different means of information technology, in order to manage the problems and challenges in an effective manner. (Pound, 1998) This paper will discuss and analyze some of the effects of technology on criminal justice practice in the United States. It is observed that information is an imperative component of criminal justice system in any part of the globe. Information related to defendants, criminals, crimes, arrests, etc plays a crucial role in a specific criminal justice system. In specific, treatment of different people in a criminal justice system is affected significantly by the way such information is managed in the system. In other words, result of an individual case depends considerably on the content and management of information. In addition, quality and quantity of the information are some of the major components that may give crucial outcomes. (James, 1986) In this regard, criminal justice system and management of information are interrelated with each other, and therefore, it is very imperative that the flow of such information should be managed in an efficient manner. With the ever-growing advancements in technology, there are surely many innovative and fast things happenings around the world, and technology has put its impact on almost everything from working to relaxing. Likewise, technology has also played a vital role in controlling crimes, if not in ending them. One common example of such kind of technology is the surveillance camera, which is employed at many places like banks, shopping centers, airports and so forth. The surveillance camera monitors the everyday activities going on in areas and therefore if any mishap takes place then it becomes easy to find out the criminal. (Smith, 2005) Therefore, it controls the crime activities and makes it possible for others to have a peaceful time shopping or roaming. One can say that the technology of this era is certainly facing challenges when it comes to take care of the criminal activities taking place in America and other places. The country of focus in this paper is America; therefore, the rest of the paper will talk about effects of technology on criminal justice practice in America. People should keep a good eye on the technology to precisely figure out the role of technology in order to control the criminal activities and accomplish the aim to end such activities. There are various places where the modern technological development has been beneficial and was unimaginable during the last century. This century has resulted in an increased number of crimes and criminal techniques and has resulted in technologies which can somewhat put an impact on criminal justice. It might not have occurred to many people that this century will bring such technologies that were impossible to develop in previous century. The police officers no longer have to fear of being shot anywhere and anytime as there are special vests designed for them that stop the bullets from entering their bodies. In the courtrooms, electronic monitoring devices are provided to judges that look after the ongoing trials taking place there. With the invention of telemedicine, (Marion, 2002) it is much easier now to look after the health-oriented problems in prisoners inside the prison cell, without moving them here and there. There are special computerized crime maps that help in evaluating any criminal activities that take place in a certain society or district. There are some organizations of government, specifically federal government, who are responsible of employing the recent technological development inside the criminal justice system. (Smith, 2005) A Memorandum of Understanding was carried out by the Vice President, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense few years ago among the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, which asked for the support, needed to employ defense technology advancements for civilian cause. Because of this memorandum, a big amount of money was budgeted for the sake of criminal justice, and better technological equipments were supplied to police officers. This statement reflects the fact that knowledge of the technology is very significant before employing it for any purpose, good or bad. Five significant technologies have proven to be very helpful when it comes to solve criminal cases, and are used highly by agencies dealing with crimes and such activities – Drug Testing, surveillance camera, DNA testing, Weapons detection, and information technology. (Marion, 2002) It is extremely important to realize the importance of these technologies to control the criminal activities along with the knowledge of the usage and the knowledge about crimes as well. The importance and utilization of surveillance camera has already been discussed briefly and now the other four technologies will be briefly discussed. Everyone is aware of the harm caused by drugs, and the harm is not just caused to the drug users, but also to people around them. For instance, if a person takes drug and drives, then he can not only cause trouble to him by getting into an accident, but can also cause trouble to those riding with him. Thanks to the drug testing technology, now this fear can be controlled by it. Drug-testing technology has become common in the United States. Drug testing is now an important test needed for employment and therefore people who are into sports, government employees, police officers, traffic officers, pilots, bus drivers and so forth are frequently tested. At some places, drug testing is also done before issuing driver’s license, or citizenship in an area where it is vital to pass the drug test. Urine test provides instant results and is very common in many sectors of criminal justice, while tests like hair tests and sweat patches make it possible to discover the drug usage over an extended era of time. The main motive of drug testing is to provide support to criminal justice organizations in making assessments that can decrease the usage of drugs and can improve the safety of people. (Smith, 2005) The other revolutionary technology, DNA technology, is yet another strong and innovative technology that makes it possible to match any biological tester with a specific person in perfection. DNA testing, which was impossible to think about a century ago, is now commonly used all over the country! Without any doubt, DNA has provided failure to many criminal activities and the criminals are spotted easily. The National Institute of Justice has even published a book, “Convicted by Juries; Exonerated by Science,” which comprise of 28 cases of serious crimes that were solved with the help of DNA testing. The astonishing thing is that each men of each case turned out to be innocent and this has been proved via the DNA testing. All these 28 men had spent roughly 7 years in prison despite of being innocent. Though these men protested against being punished and pleaded to be guilty, they were held guilty due to the witnesses who were presented and at last, they finally turned out to be innocent when the DNA test results were presented. It can certainly be said that DNA is not less important than fingerprints and is helpful in deciding the innocent and the criminal. It has been forecasted that very soon, there will be portable DNA labs invented that can easily be carried to the areas of crime and samples will be tested easily with instant results. Since every technology keeps on getting advanced, once it is invented, DNA testing sure has a good future in providing better and quicker results to make lives easy. (Garrett, 2006) The technology of detecting concealed weapons holds its own significance in helping to prevent criminal activities that possibly can take place. The above-mentioned technologies are more helpful in capturing criminals after the crime has taken place, but this technology can be helpful to capture criminals before the crime takes place. There are nine different kinds of technologies with diverse scientific methods to detect concealed and unseen weapons. The Crime Act financed some of these technologies, while some were financed by the Defense Department. As the advancements are being made in this technology, it is expected that in the future, police officers, security guards and such other officers will surely be able to find out if a person is carrying a weapon within an area. The last technology, information technology, does not need any introduction or description. Information technology has been dominating the whole world since many years, by providing the fastest way to do many tasks at a time. What can be easier than paying your bills on a few clicks, reading infinite number of articles on just one topic, translating one language material to another language and shopping easily by being at home! As information technology is useful in carrying out daily activities, it is also helpful in solving criminal cases. Suppose a person calls 911 from some area, then the police officer can instantly look at the criminal records of that region, match the fingerprints with the fingerprints of that criminal which has committed a crime. (Garrett, 2006) There are other electronic monitoring devices, which can be used to track down the criminals by watching their movements on those devices. There are computerized crime maps, which make it easy to track down the order or sequence of a certain crime in a region or district. People may consider all these technologies as an intrusion to their private lives, but safety and peace need to be maintained as well. Two-way communication is another widespread approach that is being employed for the sake of safety of people. Year by year, millions of dollars are spent by the agencies on innovative wireless communication systems. Imagine how difficult can it be for the firefighters or law enforcement officers to be without any wireless system while doing their work under complex circumstances. The two-way wireless radio communications device is as important as the normal telephone that is used by everyone around the country. This wireless communication device has made it possible to reach the paramedics instantly to the wounded people and for the firefighters to reach the areas where fire has taken place. As more advanced techniques are being invented, there are agencies who are replacing their old radio systems with the new ones in order to have better communication abilities and in order to have the latest equipment. The main reason of purchasing new radio systems is the fact that the frequency spectrums provide a limited number of channels and in order to overcome the deficiency and to deal with the crowd, it is important to have new and better radio systems. (Garrett, 2006) In conclusion, it can be said that as technologies are helping deal with crimes and other criminal activities all over the America, they are getting more advanced day by day in order to bring everything to perfection. One century ago, it might have not been even possible to imagine that this century will bring such revolutionary technologies which will not only make lives of normal people easy, but will also be helpful in dealing with criminal activities. America is one of the most advanced countries that are financially strong to have the latest technologies developed and employed in it. Conclusively, the paper has discussed some of the major aspects of criminal justice system that have changed significantly by the introduction and application of information technology in the criminal justice system of the United States. It is hoped that the paper will beneficial in better understanding of the topic. References Dennis James (1986). Criminal Justice in America: Law in Action. 684 pages. Garrett. (2006). Reporting on-campus crime online: User intention to use. System Sciences, 2006. HICSS 06. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Hawaii International Conference Volume 4, 04-07 Jan. 2006 Page(s):82a - 82a Nancy E Marion (2002). Criminal Justice in America: The Politics Behind the System. 490 pages Roscoe Pound. (1998). Criminal Justice in America. 226 pages Smith, E. (2005). Online crime reporting: Should law enforcement turn to the internet for savings? Public Management, 26-27. Read More