Technology has changed almost every aspect of modern life, and criminal justice is no exception. It takes a long time for technology in criminal justice to get approved, but we fully expect technology and crime to continue to become more intertwined.
How Technology is Changing Law Enforcement?
Criminals will continue to use technology to their advantage, and it is important that future technology in criminal justice can do the same.
Whether you are working with an identity theft lawyer or another criminal defense lawyer, expect them to be up on the latest uses of technology and to use it to help you.
Some of the types of technology starting to become more commonly used include facial recognition software and body cameras, as well as drones and, notably, e-discovery software. So, what e-discovery is, and how does it fit into the criminal justice landscape? E-discovery, short for “electronic discovery,” refers to the process of identifying, collecting, and analyzing electronic data for legal investigations and proceedings.. There is some debate on where and when these technologies can be used. For example, the California Search And Seizure Laws state the police cannot use “unreasonable intrusion”.
Even 30 or 40 years ago, the idea of security cameras was relatively new in the world of law enforcement, so it shows how quickly new and future technology in criminal justice can be adopted.
Advantages of New Technologies in Criminal Justice
Why should we embrace these new technologies for our law enforcement? Whether you need a criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles, where technology tends to be cutting edge, or you are based elsewhere in the USA. the advantages of the new technologies are clear to see. Humans can be unreliable and prone to errors, even in the justice system, but if we can put technology to good use these errors should be less frequent.
Take facial recognition, for instance. This technology can help to identify people more reliably than using older methods like police lineups. Security camera footage can be analyzed in new ways. This can lead to more people getting convicted, and people who are wrongfully accused have more chances of proving their innocence. It isn’t always perfect, though, as we explore later in this article.
License plate scanning, drones with the potential to capture photos and videos, and GPS used to track people down, they’re all examples of new technology in criminal justice, and the best thing about the use of technology is the fact that it can potentially provide more evidence.
The sharing of information is another big consideration of what is now available in the world of technology and crime. In years gone by, technology being shared between police forces and crime agencies would have taken a long time and may have been inefficient.
Now, it takes very little time to get details shared on servers and via email, or even to collect video from security camera footage. This all means that more evidence is available to make the right decisions in courts of law, in theory at least.
Wrongfully Accused by an Algorithm
There is a cautionary tale about the use of technology in the criminal justice system. Robert Julian-Borchak Williams’ story is one of facial recognition gone wrong. The algorithm relied on matching images collected with driving licenses, and because of the error in this technology, he was arrested and accused of stealing nearly $4,000 worth of watches from a store in Detroit. The main evidence that was used to arrest him turned out to be completely unreliable.
This story shows how traumatic things can be when people are wrongfully accused of committing a trial, and the fact is that at the moment, technology can be unreliable. There are imperfections. While they might not seem like a big deal, In the case of Robert Julian-Borchak Williams, he claims that the image used to bring him in by the police was not even a close resemblance. Though there are bound to be some problems implementing technology, these extreme examples show how catastrophic issues can be for an individual.
Technology is a huge part of almost everyone’s daily routine and seems to become more a part of everyday life as time goes on. It has become a part of life for every identity theft lawyer or criminal lawyer in the USA and beyond, as the way the police operate has changed, along with the whole criminal justice system.