Introduction
As change is commonly believed to be a constant factor in our every day lives, we expect to see it happen in all of the aspects of our daily endeavors. Criminal justice is a very important area of concern for security to lives and property.
A comfortable conjecture will be to say that the need for our safety should be a drive for our struggle for justice. From the police, to the court, to the correctional facility, we expect the criminal justice system to find a satisfactory balance between need for safety and justice so that people can be free to pursue personal interests while remaining safe and secure.
Implementation of current technology devices
In America today, computers in police stations and law enforcement agencies are used for data collection, information retrieval and as a trends establishment tool. Increasingly sophisticated intelligence databases will likely be used not only by the police department, but by also the general public (Ritter, 2006).
Developments in surveillance, biometrics, analysis of DNA, and radio frequency identification microchips will definitely enhance crime prevention and solving. Even advancement in computer science and technology will surely be an added advantage as trends and statistic values could be used to determine probability of occurrence of a crime.
I believe this will help in anticipation of criminal activities so that prevention may occur in a timely manner. Social Networking should not also be left out. Nowadays, it is almost common knowledge that lots of individuals and organizations use social networking sites for information and communication. A comfortable conjecture towards development in the criminal justice field will be the use of these social networking sites as an interaction tool with the communities served, for sharing critical information and collecting tips (Walker, 1992).
Reasons for delay in justice
Almost anyone will agree that there are human right complications and compromises in law courts due to incomplete information on some cases and wrong judgments are often pronounced as a result. Perhaps an expectation in the future will be to have a periodic review of cases for in-mates and a swift conviction overturning process on cases that have been wrongly judged so that individuals not guilty of a crime may be exonerated and our correctional facilities decongested.
Another problem is usually with communication mostly for people with cross-national cultures and or foreign orientation and backgrounds. The recognition of more languages and the use of human interpreters has been the conventional means to tackle matters of communication but I believe that over the next fifty years, technology will be better developed and voice recognition and speech making software programs will have so many cultural and historic databases embedded in them for a clearer interpretation and pronouncement to act as a perfect or rather better substitute to the use of human interpreters and errors in communication may be minimized further.
Disadvantages of Implementation of current technology devices
My perceived disadvantage of this will be that some individuals will be relieved of their duties to the state as human interpreters in law courts thereby causing unemployment for a lot more members of the populace.
This unemployment I believe, if continued for a prolonged time will induce these relieved people to commit financial and economic crimes and since they understand the law better by their continual participation in court proceedings, they are more likely to develop ways to counter the justice system so that they get away with their trespasses to the law (Schmalleger, 2001).
One other technological advancement I look up to see over the next 50 years is the conduct of court proceedings over the internet by video conferencing so that physical courts may be less busy and only matters of certain types, nature or level of seriousness will be decided in them.
Currently, our prisons are crowded and the cost of maintaining, expanding and rehabilitating these correctional facilities is on the high side and as tax payers we show concerns because an increase in the number of correctional facilities and or the volume of the people in them may imply a higher cost to us. So, reducing the number of people that goes into these facilities is a goal for the criminal justice system in order to reduce the government spending that goes into the maintenance, expansion and rehabilitation of correctional facilities.
An easy way out may be to establish a strong partnership between the correctional facilities administration and religious organizations and educational institutions for the teachings and communication of moral values so that crimes may be reduced in the society. I also believe that the earlier stages of a released prisoner’s freedom should be monitored so that she or he does not return to the circumstances to which she or he had to commit the crime in the previous instance(s). It is also my belief that a higher level of community involvement and awareness can help keep crimes on the low.
Ritter (2006) helped us understand further, as observed by researchers that criminals evolve and change as their potential victims take preventive measures. To better counter crime in a more global village, Brent explains the global trends evolving in the field of criminal justice. Factors such as bilateral transfer of information between countries, multilateral innovation, global dissemination of justice products, empirical evidence in the form of civilian oversight, prosecution and indigent defense, and television programs like “Law and Order” will help shape our expectation of the criminal justice system in the near future.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we now understand that from the police, to the court, to the correctional facility, we expect the criminal justice system to find a satisfactory balance between need for safety and justice so that people can be free to pursue personal interests while remaining safe and secure (Davis, et al. 1992).
Works Cited
Davis, V. et al. (1992). “The importance of victim satisfaction: a commentary: Discussion of restitution, the victims’ viewpoint.” The Justice System Journal, 15: 759-764.
Ritter, N. M. (2006). Preparing for the Future: Criminal Justice in 2040. NIJ Journal No. 255.
Schmalleger,. (2001). Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st Century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Walker, S. (1992). “Origins of the Contemporary Criminal Justice Paradigm: The American Bar Foundation Survey, 1953-1969″. Justice Quarterly 9 (1).