NCJ Number
95049
Date Published
1984
Length
64 pages
Annotation
This monograph explores George Orwell's warnings in '1984' that big government and technology will increasingly intrude on individual privacy, with attention to electronic surveillance, polygraphs, monitoring offenders through intrusive means, and utopian societies.
Abstract
A review of Supreme Court decisions and current policies identifies areas where electronic surveillance currently is threatening individual privacy. The author highlights serious problems in the validity and reliability of polygraphs, but cautions that they continue to be widely used. The next chapter describes the use of electronic bracelets worn by offenders under court supervision to monitor their movements and the use of debilitating drugs to change behavior through negative reinforcement. Methods for predicting criminal behavior also are assessed. While the use of predictive instruments shows great promise in removing some of the guesswork from parole and probation decisions, the author warns they will always contain some errors and should only be an advisory tool. The final chapter discusses the attempts of utopian communities to establish crime-free societies, emphasizing that retention of members, group cohesiveness, and social control were essential elements in community support. An analysis of these utopian experiments suggests directions for future research. Chapter references and an index are supplied.