*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

•
Hard 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
•
Soft Technology
• Crime mapping (hot spots)
• Crime analysis (e.g.
COMPSTAT)
• Criminal history data systems enhancement
• Info sharing within CJS and private sector

• 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

• Hard Technology • Soft Technology
• 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
• 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)

• 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

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 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
• 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)

• 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

• 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 21 st 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?

• Crime Prevention
• Courts
• Community
Corrections
• Policing
• Institutional
Corrections

•
What is Crime Prevention?
• ‘Activities’ vs. ‘Outcomes’
• Reduction of ‘Risk Factors’ vs. Growth in ‘Protective
Factors’

• Key Focus : Two technologies with known effects : CCTV and Improved Street
Lighting
• Key Issues: Can these UK-based successes be translated to the US?

• 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’?

• 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
Key Issues:
1. ‘Militarization’ of Police
2. Evidence-Based review of the effectiveness of hard technology applications

•
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
• Key focus: Current Implementations – automated court record systems, on-line access to case information, electronic court documents, & data warehouses
•
Key Issues:
1.
One-third of all IT projects for courts are cancelled before completion
2.
A fraction of IT projects are completed on time and under budget
3.
Most IT projects cost nearly twice as much as projected

‘Hard’ Technology of Institutional
Corrections - Stowell
•
Key Focus:
1.
Facility Monitoring
2.
Inmate/Officer Interactions
3.
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
• Key Focus:
1.
New techniques for classification of inmates & subsequent offender location decisions
2.
New offender monitoring strategies
3.
Problem-Oriented conflict resolution strategies
4.
Information sharing within CJ system
5.
Risk assessment in reentry initiatives
6.
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
• Key Focus:
1.
Electronic Monitoring of offenders on active supervision
2.
New drug testing technology
3.
Technologies for alcohol-involved offenders
4.
Technologies for managing sex offenders
5.
Automated reporting systems
• Key Issues:
• The continuing debate between advocates of control and proponents of treatment-oriented community corrections strtegies
1.
The consequences of privtization of certain community corrections functions

Community Corrections & ‘Soft’ Technology
– Pattavina & Taxman
• Key Focus:
1.
New generation of classification instruments in community corrections
2.
New approaches to offender treatment based on Risk Need
Responsivity model
3.
New case management information technology
4.
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