The Future of Criminology Essay

Criminology is the study of illegal activities, including their causes, control, consequences and control measures. The main aim of criminology is to find out the factors behind crimes and formulate effective means of preventing criminal behavior. Criminology has brought improvements in the criminal justice system, which include reactions to criminal activities and how both victims of crime and criminals are treated. It assists us to comprehend the cost of crimes for all parties involved and for the general society. Criminology has given birth to more study areas like environmental criminology. It has led to breakthroughs and improvements in police tactics and other crime-fighting practices. Criminology came up in the 18th century when some people doubted the fairness and efficiency of criminal justice and the system of prisons. A group of reformers like John Howard from England championed for reduced use of capital punishment and the civilization of disciplinary institutions. They aimed to make the criminal justice fairer. As the universe keeps changing, people change, and the technology continues advancing. Consequently, crimes evolve. Criminals seek new methods of committing crimes and try to find loopholes in laws. Justice system, therefore, has to keep up with the advancing technology to protect people from criminals.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Criminology is thus always related to technology. In the past technologies such as telegraph and radios were used in criminology. Today, more advanced forms of technology is used. These include video surveillance, electronic eavesdropping and use of computer databases. The justice system must keep up with the changing technology to protect people. Law officials should obey the law. While enforcing laws, the officials should have the rights of citizens in mind. The rights include the freedom of speech and the right to assemble. The purpose of this paper is to talk about the future of criminology. The paper will highlight some future directions of fighting criminal activities and its role in social policy implication. Among other things, we will look at the potential for some particular methodologies in fighting crimes such as the use of biometrics, use of cybercrime software and the mandating of DNA collecting programs.

The use of Security cameras and Closed-circuit Television (CCTV) has been on the rise as a tool of investigation. More and more security cameras are being put up in streets and private businesses. Enforcement of laws regularly depends on video footages from cameras put up in public areas by municipal governments and residential homes security. The use of surveillance cameras has somehow violated human rights in the process. This technology has led to the collection of much information about people and what they do. On the collection of data, it is not clear to the public of how this data is used. Therefore, these cameras can change the relationship between law enforcers and citizens as it puts a threat to privacy rights.

Predictive policing, the ability to identify illegal activities before they happen, has taken great lengths. Unique programs can detect a murder before it is committed which assists police to make arrests before the murder. This software uses algorithms to foresee crimes and direct law enforcers to areas where the crime is predicted to be committed. There have been worries about the future of predictive policing. People have doubted the efficiency of this artificial intelligence. There is fear of people getting arrested innocently just because a computer model predicted that they are likely to commit a crime. Many crimes occur in a semi-regular manner while some sizeable small frequency violations like terrorism are not guided by any patterns, which makes them difficult for an algorithm to foresee (Staff & News, 2011).

Biometric technology is used in the identification of suspected criminals. Biometrics is the science of recognizing people by using their biological behavior such as voice and physical characteristics such as fingerprints. Some of the techniques used in biometrics include hand geometry, Retina technology, fingerprint analysis and voice technology. Fingerprint analysis is the most commonly used form of biometrics. It uses the fact that each person has a unique pattern of fingerprints. It requires a person to put their finger on a reader. The fingerprint is then scanned and set to a station where it is analyzed and identified. This technology is used extensively in the enforcement of laws. This is because it has a high level of accuracy and it's a cheap method.

However, sometimes the technique may not work accurately due to a disease or age. Hand geometry analyzes the length of fingers and the outline of a hand. It requires a person to put their hand on a reader which scans the fingerprints and sends it to a database where it can be identified. It is also used in banking and law enforcement. Its accuracy is very high, and it is also a cheap method. However, it may not work correctly due to a hand trauma and disease. Retina technology uses a scanner which evaluates capillary vessels found in the eyes. It has a high accuracy rate. It is however sensitive, expensive and causes discomfort for people who use glasses. Voice technology evaluates the tone of a voice. It is a non-invasive method, but its accuracy can be affected by age and noise. Biometric techniques assist in assessing evidence by overcoming human thinking abilities thus enhancing the effectiveness of an investigation. These techniques help analyze significant amounts of information in crime investigation which would not be investigated by man (Thakkar, 2016).

Implementation of cybercrime spyware will be essential for fighting crimes in the future. Spyware is a program that secretly monitors the actions of a user on computers. It collects a range of data such as the computers address, running applications and also the visited websites. Technology keeps expanding day by day, and people keep using the internet more and more. With this growing use of the internet, cybercrimes also keep growing. Many people have had their data compromised by people who hack into their personal computers. Business organizations too have been hacked, and their data interfered with (Mentor, 2010). The government, therefore, needs to be on the alert and keep track of what people do on the internet to be able to catch cybercriminals. This can be achieved by the use the spyware program.

DNA collecting programs should be mandated. The programs will make it possible to arrest criminals, release those who are convicted wrongly and also clear suspects who are not guilty. The problem with the collection of DNA arises when DNA samples are obtained from people who are arrested and not convicted. In so doing, their rights of privacy are violated. Despite the effectiveness of DNA technology in convicting crimes, some laws do not allow the collection of DNA after the convictions of people who did minor crimes. In 2016, 16 states in the US could not automatically collect one DNA upon arrest. Expanding the collection of DNA samples will be necessary to identify criminals, release the innocent, afford justice to the victims of crime and prevent future crimes from happening (Mentor, 2010).

As technology keeps infiltrating into our lives, criminals come up with new and improved ways of undertaking their activities. Illegal acts such as hacking and theft keep increasing. Law enforcers are adopting advanced scientific methods and techniques in a bid to prevent such crimes. Forensic innovations have come up with advancements in technologies such as DNA analysis and image enhancement. DNA sampling helps in human identity while image enhancement helps read clues in complex fingerprints. Biometric databases enable law enforcers to solve problems that would not be solvable in the past (Mentor, 2010).

Improvements in technology are built on years of progress in the field. It came into existence in the middle years and continued to progress with the advances in science around the 18th century. The use of fingerprints for identity has improved. In the past, it was a tiresome process which took as long as weeks. Nowadays the procedure can be done in two days. Many DNA tests have been done throughout the world, and law enforcers' use DNA analysis in investigations. Polymerase chain reaction is a technique which has been incorporated in DNA analysis. It helps in acquiring the whole profile of a person from little and even degraded DNA samples. Through this technology, it is possible to obtain significant amounts of the required DNA for doing tests from just a hair root or even from a teacup (Thakkar, 2016). The technology was used by scientists to know victims of the 9/11 attack.

Fingerprint technique has also improved over the years. In the past, law enforcers usually relied on a brush to remove dust to make fingerprints clear while currently some chemicals can be used to enhance the fingerprints (Thakkar, 2016). Different types of lighting can also be used to identify fingerprints, which was not possible years ago.

Image enhancement technique is assisting law enforcers to see evidence like imprints left on surfaces and impressions made on soft surfaces like mud. Ideas can now be improved by using accurate methods. In the past, videos and images obtained by cameras during a crime were not clear enough to identify criminals. Today, color improvement and other methods help clarify images which allow identifying criminals better. Biometrics like facial recognition makes it easier to identify and track law offenders. Biometric system is friendlier when compared to password system as passwords as passwords can be hacked. It is a better technique as it reduces administration of passwords and still increases network security. Biometric techniques solve the issues related to forgotten passwords and also makes hacking difficult (Thakkar, 2016). Therefore, the evolving scientific technologies and law enforcement methods are helping to fight crime better and even in exonerating wrongly accused people.

Despite the efficiency of the biometric system, there are some shortcomings of using the technology. It is an intrusive method as it deals with the human body. Some people may not be willing to provide fingerprints due to its psychological connection to the justice system. Others may not be willing to expose their eyes for iris recognition. Cost is another shortcoming of using the evolving biometric system. Despite being the most accurate biometric technique, Iris scanning is not suitable for people who have cataracts and is a costly method. The fingerprint is widely used due to its affordability despite producing less accurate data. Use of biometric technology faces limited legislation (Thakkar, 2016). Although the shortcomings of biometric technology, law enforcers, and the government view it as the ultimate way of fighting criminal activities.

The evolving crime-fighting techniques affect national and international policymaking. Governments react and treat criminal acts among top priorities and focus on improving fighting techniques to make sure that federal security prevails. Development of a nation needs economic and political freedom, good relations between countries and respect to the dignity of man. Something that tends to disturb these aspects of the community is seen as a threat to the security of a nation. Due to this, governments look for policies to review existing criminal laws, improve criminal investigation and to train law enforcers on current crime-fighting technology. The holistic offense fighting technique is made to strengthen the making of policies in the security area to motivate transparency, coordination, creating important parliamentary and other aspects of security and improve the...