Technology EXAM 2 study Guide: Spring 2015
Exam Format: Identifications/short answers ( 70%) and essays(30%)
Exam Date: Thursday, April 9th
Required Reading and Links to Review: Text chapters on police and soft technology( Harris), police and hard
technology( Hummer) Courts and Hard Technology( Bellone), and Courts and Soft Technology( Corbett), along with
links listed on weekly schedule.
2. Key topics covered: visit our course webpage and review PowerPoint summaries of class lectures
3. Key Terms from Text and Lectures:
1. JNET (Pennsylvania)
2. Courtroom 21 Project
3. NCSC’s CourTools
4. Operation Drug Test in the Federal Pretrial System: What was it?
5. Data Warehousing
6. MDTs, CAD and RMS
7. What are sentencing guidelines? How can they be used to reduce incarceration?
8. Car 54 project
9. What is ARJIS? Did it improve clearance rates for violent and property crime in San Diego?
10. Compstat: What is it?Does it improve police performance?
11. Bullet Proof Vests: do they work?
12. Police Early Intervention Systems
13. Current Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court
14. Training of lawyers in the use of new technology: What % trained?
15. Implementation level of court IT projects: % completed on time and under budget
16. Dekalb County Radio Frequency Identification Technology
17. Multnomah County’s Sentencing Support Tools
18. Hot Spots, COP, and POP: define
19. Operation Ceasefire: What was it? Did it reduce violence in Boston? What about LA?
20. Supreme Court’s view of technology in courtroom?
21. TASER effectiveness
22. Paramilitary police units: What are they and what do they do?
23. What is the drug of choice among drug users in urban, suburban and rural drug courts?
24. E-Government Act of 2002 and PACER profits
25. Supreme Court and Facebook: Elonis v. United States
Sample Essay Questions:
1.
Provide an overview of hard technology and police: types of innovations include weapons, chemical
irritants, tasers; nonelectric immobilizing devices such as water pressure, trap nets, sticky foam;
technology related to vehicle pursuits, such as barrier strips; and technology designed for officer safety,
such as body armor; and other technologies, such as license plate readers, and body worn cameras. Do
they improve police performance?
2.
Provide an overview of police use of soft/ information technology: CAD, MDTs, RMS, POP, hot spots/
smart policing, Improvements in criminal history data systems, including federal ( NCIC), state and local(
fusion centers, ARJIS in San Diego), operation ceasefire, gunshot location devices, and early warning
systems. Do they improve police performance? ( Highlight NRC review of impact on police performance)
3.
Provide an overview of new(hard and soft) court technology: video conferencing, instant drug testing, real
time transcription, use of computers, videos, etc. in courtroom and jury deliberations; weapon detection
thru court entry screening; drug testing, data warehouses, COURTOOLS, sentencing support tools. Do they
improve court performance?
4.
Provide an overview of Drug Courts: number, target population, key features, effectiveness in areas of
drug use( short vs long term desistance), criminal behavior and cost. Compare drug courts to Project
HOPE: How do they differ?
5.
Briefly describe and then highlight the unique information needs of the following specialized Courts (
reentry courts, veterans courts, domestic violence courts, and community courts).
6.
Changing Profile of Police, long term trends in violence reduction, and Police use of force statistics: Are
they related? How often--and why-- do police use force? Has the introduction of tasers reduced police
officers’ use of lethal force?