Text 3 Applying Computers in Criminal Justice System
Computers are extensively used in the criminal justice information systems in a growing number of countries. Computers help the criminal justice system to work effectively and efficiently, they can improve the quality of justice. The first computer systems used by the police were data based systems for recording criminal histories and recording details of the cases to be heard in court. They assisted in the conduct of trial. Now widely spread computerization assists in the detection of crime, provides better and more accurate information to help judges to make better decisions. Computers store information accurately, they assist in the conviction of the guilty, assist day-to-day operation of the criminal justice process. Computers help: law enforcement officers in tracing the past criminal history; prosecutors- to prepare and handle the increasing number of cases; judges- to obtain accurate information on the past criminal record of persons found guilty; prisons- to record details of inmates; police agencies- to get information quickly and accurately.
Crime prevention. Computerized criminal statistics systems can be used to provide accurate and objective information on the numbers of reported crimes and of trends in those numbers with the aim of crime prevention.
Detection of crime. Large-scale computer-based information systems can assist investigating officers in reviewing and analysing large quantities of information gathered in the course of major investigation. Data-based systems containing criminal histories, modus operandi, etc., can assist in the identification of suspects and missing persons. Fingerprint record systems can assist in identifying suspects from scene-of-crime investigations and in the positive identification of known suspects. Data-based systems can be used to record details of missing persons, stolen property, etc., thereby assisting in the solution of crimes. Recording of scene-of-crime details is done more rapidly and accurately.
Computerized case investigation systems can assist in the efficient preparation of cases for trial, thereby reducing the time between apprehension and trial. With the use of computers there is a better presentation of case papers.
There is no simple recipe how computers can best be applied to criminal justice. Computers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They can be small desktop microcomputers or large, room-size computers; they can operate in isolation or they can be connected together; the programs and information on them can be centralized at one point or can be distributed over a wide area; the computer programme can be designed to serve one criminal justice agency or all agencies of the criminal justice system, a local area or a whole country.
The contents of criminal history system, names of recorded serious offenders, dates of conviction, details of offences and sentences, details of location of offences, details of other offences taken into consideration, in some cases details of offenders’ modus operandi. The same system may also carry stolen vehicle, missing persons, unsolved crimes, stolen property, drugs use register.
Computerization changes the forms of communication among individuals within an agency or between agencies usually making communication easier and more rapid.
Notes:
data based systems - база данных
imates - заключенные
missing persons – без вести пропавшие лица
modus operandi– метод действия преступника («почерк»)