Transcript The New Technology of Crime Law and Social Control

The New Technology of Crime
Law and Social Control*
*Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the
American Society of Criminology, Los Angeles,
CA. November 2, 2006
The New Technology of Crime
Prevention
• Hard Technology
• Soft Technology
• CCTV
• Street Lighting
• Citizen Protection Devices
(e.g. mace, tasers)
• Metal Detectors
• Ignition Interlock Systems
(drunk drivers)
• Threat Assessment
Instruments
• Bullying ID Protocol
• Sex Offender Registration
• Risk Assessment prior to
involuntary civil
commitment
• Profiling
The New Technology of Policing
• Hard Technology
• Soft Technology
• Improved police protection
(vests, cars)
• Improved/new weapons
• Less than lethal force
• Computers in squad cars
• Hands free patrol car control
(Project 54)
• Offender and citizen ID’s via
biometrics/fingerprints
• Crime mapping (hot spots)
• Crime analysis (e.g.
COMPSTAT)
• Criminal history data
systems enhancement
• Info sharing within CJS
and private sector
The New Technology of Law and
Courts
• Hard Technology
• Soft Technology
• The high tech courtroom
(computers, video,
cameras, design features
of buildings)
• Weapon detection devices
• Video conferencing
• Electronic court
documents
• Drug testing at pretrial
satge
• Case flow mgmnt systems
• Radio frequency
identification technology
• Data warehousing
• Automation of court
records
• Problem-oriented courts
The New Technology of
Institutional Corrections
• Hard Technology
• Soft Technology
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• Use of simulations as training
tools (mock riots)
• Facial Recognition software
• New inmate classification
systems (external/internal)
• Within prison crime analysis
(hot spots; high rate offenders)
• Info sharing with police,
community, victims, and
community-based corrections
(reentry)
Contraband detection devices
Duress alarm systems
Language translation devices
Remote monitoring
Perimeter screening
Less than lethal force in prison
Prison design
Expanded use of segregation
units
The New Technology of
Community Corrections
• Hard Technology
• Soft Technology
• GPS, language
translators
• Breathalyzers, instant
drug tests
• Polygraph tests
• Laptops for line staff
• GPS for staff location
• New classification
devices for sex, drugs,
and MI offenders
• New workload
software
• Info sharing with
community, police,
treatment providers
Three Critical Issues to Consider
1.
Will new technology applications in criminal
justice result in the replacement of ‘people’
with ‘things’?
2.
Will technological advancements in the area
of offender control minimize the possibilities
for individual & community change?
3.
What are the long term consequences of
privatization of key technology related CJ
system functions?
The New Technology of Crime
• The Impact of Technology on Criminality –
Schlegel & Cohen
• 3 Distinct Opportunity Structures
– Crime at work
– Crime as work
– Crime after work
The New Technology of Crime AT
Work : Some Examples
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Embezzlement
Money Laundering/Financial Frauds
Credit Card Fraud by Employees
Corporate Espionage (via bots, email monitoring,
pretexting
• Theft/Sale of Private, Confidential, Personal Data
• The Spreading of Viruses & Malicious Codes (to
gain competitive advantage)
The New Technology of Crime
AS Work: Some Examples
• Internet Fraud Schemes: Nigerian letter, online auctions, drug/health
frauds, lottery frauds, revictimization frauds
• Telemarketing Fraud Schemes: Investments, promotions, sales
• Identity Theft
• Credit Card/Check Fraud
• Phishing (for Profit)
• Internet Sex Crimes
• Sale of Private, Confidential, Personal Data
• Internet Piracy
• Theft of Computers, Computer Software, Internet Access
The New Technology of Crime
AFTER Work
• Internet Sex Crimes (Sex tourism, child
pornography, child predators/solicitation)
• Internet Hate Crimes
• Internet Stalking
• Cyber-Terrorism
• Spreading Viruses and Malicious Codes
• Hacking/Illegal Access to Data
Technology, Crime Control, & the
Private Sector in the 21st Century –
Rebovich & Martino
•Addresses private sector
contributions to the prevention of
computer based crimes and identity
theft
•What are the consequences for crime
control & the public when the private
sector is increasingly responsible for
historically public sector systems?
The New Technology of Criminal
Justice
• Crime Prevention
• Courts
• Community
Corrections
• Policing
• Institutional
Corrections
The New Technology of Crime
Prevention
• What is Crime Prevention?
• ‘Activities’ vs. ‘Outcomes’
• Reduction of ‘Risk Factors’ vs. Growth in ‘Protective
Factors’
‘Hard’ Technology of Crime
Prevention – Welsh & Farrington
• Key Focus : Two technologies with known
effects : CCTV and Improved Street
Lighting
• Key Issues: Can these UK-based successes
be translated to the US?
Crime Prevention & ‘Soft’
Technology – A. Harris &
Lurigio
• Key Focus:
1. Risk Assessment (sex offenders and
mentally ill offenders
2. Threat Assessment (school violence & terrorism)
• Key Issue: What is the appropriate balance between
considerations of ‘risk’ and ‘stakes’?
The New Technology of Policing
: ‘Hard” Technology Applications
- Hummer
• Key Focus:
1.Non-Lethal Weaponry
2. Non-Electric Immobilizing Devices
3. Technology to Reduce the Number of Vehicular Pursuits
4. Technology to Improve Officer Safety
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Key Issues:
1. ‘Militarization’ of Police
2. Evidence-Based review of the effectiveness of hard technology
applications
‘Soft’ Technology and Policing –
C. Harris
• Key Focus:
1. Data Collection & Management
2. Data- Driven Police Strategies
• Key Issues:
1. Will advances in data utilization
revolutionize or simply enhance
traditional practices?
The Courts and Hard Technology: Applying
Technological Solutions to Legal Issues - Bellone
• Key Focus : Implementation of technological innovations
in courtroom settings& throughout key decision points in
the court process (e.g. pretrial preparation & jury
deliberations)
• Key Issues:
1. Little knowledge of ‘what works’ in hard technology for
courts
2. Is slow pace of such innovations warranted?
The Courts and ‘Soft’ Technology - Corbett
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Key focus: Current Implementations – automated court
record systems, on-line access to case information,
electronic court documents, & data warehouses
Key Issues:
One-third of all IT projects for courts are cancelled
before completion
A fraction of IT projects are completed on time and
under budget
Most IT projects cost nearly twice as much as projected
‘Hard’ Technology of Institutional
Corrections - Stowell
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Key Focus:
Facility Monitoring
Inmate/Officer Interactions
High Risk Inmate Control
• Key Issues: Inmate numbers increasing and budgets
decreasing equates to hard choices in applications of
technology to offender control vs. offender treatment
‘Soft’ Technology & Institutional Corrections
– Byrne & Lurigio
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Key Focus:
New techniques for classification of inmates & subsequent offender
location decisions
New offender monitoring strategies
Problem-Oriented conflict resolution strategies
Information sharing within CJ system
Risk assessment in reentry initiatives
Performance Measurement systems
• Key Issues: How can the various forms of ‘soft’ technology be revised
to emphasize the goal of offender change rather than short term
offender control?
Applications of ‘Hard’ Technology to
Community Corrections – P. Harris
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Key Focus:
Electronic Monitoring of offenders on active supervision
New drug testing technology
Technologies for alcohol-involved offenders
Technologies for managing sex offenders
Automated reporting systems
• Key Issues:
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The continuing debate between advocates of control and proponents
of treatment-oriented community corrections strtegies
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The consequences of privtization of certain community corrections
functions
Community Corrections & ‘Soft’ Technology
– Pattavina & Taxman
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Key Focus:
New generation of classification instruments in community
corrections
New approaches to offender treatment based on Risk Need
Responsivity model
New case management information technology
New approaches to information sharing, crime mapping, & the
assessment of risk level of offenders
• Key Issues: Advances in ‘soft’ technology have resulted in more control
over offenders but have these same advances undermined attempts
to change individual behavior?
Concluding Comments
• The Limits of Technology
• We need to consider the unintended consequences of our
ongoing quest for technological solutions for social
problems
• We need to find ways to use technology to reinforce moral
performance at both the institutional and individual levels