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Brandon Platt

Professor Ellis

CJ 1010

April 14, 2017

Criminal Justice and Technology

Technology and the Criminal Justice System have not been long friends. They have

slowly over time become more and more integrated as technology has proved to be a viable asset

to the national and local criminal justice system. It is amazing to see the role that technology has

played in updating the criminal justice system and seeing all different ways it is used; a lot of

which, are very innovative. We will look at technological innovations within the criminal justice

system and look more specifically at the process of identifying offenders, the future of the

criminal justice system and trials, we will also look at the impact technology has had on lie

detection testing and seeing how much that has changed.

An area worth considering is the prison system. There are many millions of square miles

within the United States that are associated with prisons (Bean). There are a lot of criminals that

know how to jimmy a lock to get the gates to open which leads us to our technological advances.

Most criminals dont know how to pick these electronic locks because it is virtually impossible

to do so. The prisoners are kept between heavy steel bars away from people and are monitored

and locked by computers to make sure nothing out of the ordinary happens. Phillip Bean in one

of his articles said:

Most prisons have an impressive range of technologies whether at the perimeter

or within the prison itself. At the perimeter, there are computerized locking systems

backed by sophisticated methods of surveillance. Inside the prison are levels of

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surveillance undreamed of by our Victorian ancestors, and a far cry from the Bentham

Panoptican. Escapes are rare--in the high security prisons and Special Hospitals almost

non-existent. In this sense, technology has helped answer one of the age-old questions of

prisons--how to stop inmates escaping. Technology is doing amazing things to increase

the safety of the public.

Not only is technology found within the prison system but with others such as people

who are on probation. Probation officers are currently using many of the technological resources

to keep track of the offenders. This is a great resource because now the probation officers job

can focus on a few more important things rather than constantly checking of the offender to

make sure they are doing what they are supposed to do, now the probation officer can have more

meetings with other offenders and check up on higher risk offenders (Bean). These devises

will help control offenders in different settings they may be in, and keep the probation officer

alert and informed about what is going on.

Another way technology is impacting the criminal justice system is during the court trial

period. In her article entitled Criminal Jury Trials in 2030: A Law Odyssey Jacqueline Horan

explains strategic foresight. She states:

Strategic foresight combines the elements of strategy, future studies, and

foresight; that is, `skillful management in attaining an end', via perception

gained by looking forward' through the `examination of key trends and their

outcomes, with the hope of successfully influencing those outcomes. It is

a strategy used to assist institutions to identify where they might be going, so

that they can prepare for those eventualities. It is not about guesswork but

requires a deep understanding of the institution. Ideally, evidence-based

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research underpins the process.

Horan states that strategic foresight can be the future of trials. Technology can impact strategic

foresight by generating computer models and helping identify the offenders a little quicker

(Horan).

Along with Horans idea of generating more computer models in the future with the

trials, another idea generated by Ragna Aarli is using technology by incorporating it in the DNA

process and identification processes. A lot of technology has already been implemented within

this side of the criminal justice system. There are a few different resources in obtaining DNA

and other types of identification processes. It is, arguably, easier than ever to obtain DNA and to

positively identify a suspect (Aarli). Although DNA technology has been around since the

1980s it is growing and expanding as rapidly as ever (Aarli). Even though DNA is rapidly

expanding, there are drawbacks to this technology. Aarli explains:

the process of collecting biological samples at a crime scene nor the laboratory

procedure for creating DNA profiles is a watertight process that is immune to human

error. There is always a risk of contamination when biological samples are handled by the

police or by laboratory assistants to create DNA profiles. The possibility of

misinterpretation of the results in the laboratory should also be acknowledged. Although

the creation of a DNA profile is automated, an ascertained match of two profiles is

always the result of an individual assessment, and the risk of a non-reported or

misreported match can hardly be entirely eradicated.

It is important to know the drawbacks to technology as well. Nothing can replace the human

element in the decision process. The other important consideration with technology is that not

everything is going to be 100% accurate. If it were, then what would be the reason to double
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check things? It is important to always double check your work and make sure things just make

sense.

Another great innovation technology has caused is in the lie detection process. This is an

important source for the criminal justice system because it helps test alibies and can help aid in

determining the truth. In Ian Kerrs document Tessling on My Brain: The Future of Lie

Detection and Brain Privacy in the Criminal Justice System he studies heat patterns, electrical

activities, and odors emitting from different sources of the brain. These different patterns that

are observed can be used to test whether a person is lying or telling the truth. The technology is

coming about where we can scan perpetrators brains to determine different electrical signals that

trigger if someone is lying. This is a much less flawed way of conducting a lie detection test

because electrical signals that the body puts out are virtually impossible to hide, and with the

right equipment, we can be more certain than ever that they have the right person (Kerr).

I was lucky enough to obtain someone and do a personal interview with them. They

currently work for the Houston Police Department in the forensic department and are over

fingerprinting and determining if someone is guilty or not. His name is Darren Jewkes and is

very knowledgeable in his field. I asked him how technology has improved the quality of the

fingerprinting they receive, he states

When I began my career the focus on technology was mostly film based

photography using the trusty 35mm SLC camera and developing the negatives and

photographs in a dark room with chemicals. We also had the use of a 1to1 polaroid

camera which we used a lot to make a quick photo for comparison and documentation of

latent prints from crime scenes and the matching set of fingerprints of the suspects from

their arrest record. Darren informed me that a lot has changed from his first days in the
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field compared to now. He says that cameras are obsolete now and are moving more

toward digital era. They like using digital because it is higher definition than the

cameras. Darren said when they have it on their screens they are able to zoom in and

look at the ridge structures and furrows. Part of the digital world makes it so they can

make the background noise go away to make the image clearer than ever before. It is

important that the people doing the fingerprint examination get it right. It could mean the

difference between exoneration or conviction (Jewkes 2017).

I never figured technology would apply to fingerprinting . I dont think I knew the impact that

technology would have on fingerprinting. It makes sense after talking with Darren about it.

Technology in general all over the field of criminal justice has had a major impact. As

stated previously, we have looked at the impact of technology in the fingerprinting, lie detecting,

the use of DNA in verifying the identity of the offenders. We have also looked into what the

future of criminal justice and what that could be in the future and how it can affect us going

forward. I have learned a lot while writing this paper about the technological impacts in criminal

justice. I never thought so much about the criminal justice issues in the world and it was

impressive seeing all the different aspects in which technology have impacted the criminal

justice system.
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Works Cited

Bean, Philip. "Technology and Criminal Justice." International Review of Law, Computers &

Technology, vol. 13, no. 3, Dec. 1999, pp. 365-371. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1080/13600869955026.

Horan, Jacqueline and Shelley Maine. "Criminal Jury Trials in 2030: A Law Odyssey." Journal

of Law & Society, vol. 41, no. 4, Dec. 2014, pp. 551-575. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1111/j.1467-6478.2014.00685.x.

Aarli, Ragna. "Genetic Justice and Transformations of Criminal Procedure." Journal of

Scandinavian Studies in Criminology & Crime Prevention, vol. 13, no. 1, May 2012, pp.

3-21. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/14043858.2012.670457.

Kerr, Ian, et al. "Tessling on My Brain: The Future of Lie Detection and Brain Privacy in the

Criminal Justice System." Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice, vol. 50,

no. 3, June 2008, pp. 367-387. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3138/cjccj.50.3.367.

Jewkes, Darren. 18 Apr. 2017. Accessed 18 Apr. 2017.