NCJ Number
214076
Date Published
2005
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This chapter explores the use of science for crime control purposes.
Abstract
The author argues that one way of asserting superiority over criminals is to employ science to control crime. The chapter begins with an examination of the current range and uses of science within Great Britain’s Home Office, offering a table that outlines the Home Office agencies using science along with a description of how science is used. The scientific developments most likely to impact policing over the next 5 years are identified as biometrics, electromagnetic imaging, encryption, geo-location, lab-on-a-chip, and third generation mobile phones. Although criminal justice agencies such as the Home Office are adopting strategies of integration for their scientific components, the author argues that the direction of hard science has primarily been aimed at a narrow range of topics, such as unique identifiability and telecommunications for police and court use. The chapter moves on to an exploration of the profound changes to society and to criminal justice that have taken place in recent years as technology continues to change the everyday landscape of society. The routine activities that bring opportunities for crimes have changed, as have the ways in which crimes are accomplished. In order to illustrate the stark changes in society and in criminality, the author examines thefts from 1835 to 1860 when the theft of food or clothing outnumbered thefts of motor vehicles or technological equipment. The pan-science approach taken by the Home Office’s Police Scientific Development Branch (PSDB) is described, as is the “Think Crime” initiative of the Foresight Crime Panel, Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC), which balances forensics with surveillance and preventive technologies. Areas of neglected science and opportunities for technological expansion are identified as the author argues for the coupling of the hard sciences and criminology. Tables, figures, notes, references