Criminal Justice System Analysis

The fourth point in this plan deals directly with utilizing the innovations made in technology over the last decades to improve the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice system in reducing crime and prosecuting crime. Just as technology is exploited by some criminals to be more effective, so too does the Criminal Justice system need to keep up with the world’s progress to improve both proactive approaches and reactive approaches. Many of the points in this plan can be greatly enhanced by technology. Computers and digital devices have placed technology at the fingertips of almost every person in America. The ability for images and videos to go “viral” is evidenced by the daily uploads on the internet and social media. These images and videos …show more content…
While there are benefits to hidden surveillance cameras in some situations, part of the effectiveness of CCTV is making it known to the public, including potential criminals. It is for this reason that many CCTV cameras in large cities, such as New York City, are clearly visible and marked with large signs. Simply putting a camera up in a particular location to record events for later review is only effective in follow up investigations. The live monitoring of CCTV opens up many options for improving crime prevention coupled with the public’s continued assistance with images and video sent by the internet or social media. To be clear, the use of CCTV alone indicates that it has a modest but significant desirable effect on crime (Welsh and Farrington, 2008). It is true that not all crimes are prevented and that criminals can adapt their behavior in some cases to appear less suspicious. However, the main focus of CCTV will be to support the other points of this plan, particularly hot spot policing, as a tool in crime prevention and the prosecution of crime. Success in prevention will require a close relationship with the police and more focus from smaller systems in well-defined areas as opposed to broad-ranging systems that cover large areas (Short and Ditton,

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