NCJ Number
138061
Journal
Futurist Dated: (May-June 1992) Pages: 19-22
Date Published
1992
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Although law enforcement efforts will never completely eliminate the problems of drugs and street crime, the technologies of the information age will give police new crime-fighting techniques and could lower the number of crimes in the future.
Abstract
Much of the public's concern about crime emanates from the war on drugs. Advances in the understanding of drugs and the development of therapeutic medications will help the war on drugs by alleviating alcoholism and possibly curbing the addictions of cocaine and other forms of drug abuse. The Human Genome Project, if successful, will map the chemical and electrical circuits in the brain, leading to new discoveries related to drug abuse. Abuse could be cured through medications or nanocomputer implants. Advances in technology, including "smart" houses, satellite equipment, and audio devices, will help to deter crime. Other techniques will help in police investigations: DNA fingerprinting, voice stress analysis, bullet cytology, and bionics. Community policing and participatory justice are two innovative criminal justice notions that have the potential to assist the human side of law enforcement.