Administration of Justice

Introduction

In recent times, criminal justice systems have been developed to become more efficient in the field of criminal justice. With the advancement of technology, various systems have been upgraded and have become critical in ensuring that justice is served. Technology has therefore become an important resource in the administration of justice. Some of the technologies being used nowadays are GPS tracking and gunshot detection systems. GPS tracking enables the detection and supervision of offenders on probation. These offenders can be followed wherever they move to. Hence, it is easy to know their location. Gun detection systems are installed in high-risk areas so that they detect and give back the location of gun shots or other weapons so that the police can rush to those areas and prevent crimes from happening. These two systems have gone a long way in the administration of criminal justice. This paper, as it may be inferred from the abovementioned data, discusses the impact of GPS and gun detection systems on the process of administration of criminal justice.

GPS Tracking System

Global Positioning System (GPS) is an important technology used in the practice of the administration of criminal justice. Using GPS, various goals are reached. First of all, an offender can be tracked to ensure that they do not commit any crime or even ensure that they stay within the specified areas. In other words, these systems are used to guarantee that the offender is committed to correcting their behavior. If they try to tamper with the tracking device, then it is immediately known by the supervising officers that they do not want to change their behavior. Most lawyers use these GPS tracking system as the last bargaining chip for their clients (Chan, 2009). Using this system, their clients are not given to serve time in prison but serve their time outside being controlled via the GPS tracking system. This system is used in the tracking and monitoring of the movements made by the offender on probation. For this system to work, the offender has to wear a transmitter which shows their location in real time. The offender has a specific radius which they are not expected to cross. This radius is known as the inclusion zone. The rest of the areas are known as exclusion zones. If the offender gets near an exclusion zone, they are called by the personnel monitoring the system. If the offender does not answer the call or refuses to leave the area after the call, then the police are notified (Sipes, 2009). The impact of this system cannot be understated. Small crime offenders do not have to go to jail and can well be monitored in real time from their homes. This significantly releases the pressure that the prisons have. According to Bulman (2013), sex offenders being tracked using GPS are known to commit less crimes. Apart from being used on offenders, the police also use GPS tracking systems in their vehicles to be able to find the shortest route to a specific place (St. Joseph’s University, 2016). This has proven advantageous, especially in speed chases by the police. This way the dispatchers can find the easiest route to reach the suspects (Allen & Sawhney, 2010). The police can therefore be the fast respondents in crime areas, or even able to catch the offenders during speed chases.

Gun Detection Systems

Gun detection systems are made up of sensors that are installed in the areas that are considered high crime locations to be able to pinpoint the exact location in which the gunshots are used. These systems detect gun shots and enable quick response from the police (Kyoda20, 2014). Doing so ensures that the police response time is reduced drastically. These systems consist of three main components: an array of sensors or even microphones that are either co-located or dispersed in various locations within the region, a processing unit and a user interface which is used to display the gunshot alerts. To enable the efficient work of the system, three characteristics of gunfire help detection: the muzzle blast, optical flash, and the shock wave. The optical flash is what occurs after the ignition of the explosive charge to propel the projectile from the weapon’s chamber. The muzzle blast is the sound that is produced after the projectile is propelled from the chamber. Finally, the shock wave is a wave that emerges as the projectile travels in the air. For the optical flashes to be detected, they must be in a clear line of sight. In some cases, the efficiency of these gun detection systems are minimized by the offenders using the flash suppressors that reduce the optical flash, and the muzzle blast suppressors that minimize the muzzle blast, making them difficult to detect. Despite its inaccuracies and not ideal work under certain conditions, this system markedly impacts the administration of justice by rapid alerts, awareness, and communication to the dispatch center where these alerts are used to notify the first responders to the crime scenes (Collins, 2009). Increasing the response time ensures that the arrest rates increase, that the officers responding to the crime scene are ready with their equipment ensuring their safety, securing the evidence in the crime scene and the witnesses of the crimes, and finally enhancing investigations (Cole, Smith & DeJong, 2016). This means the faster prosecution of cases.

Conclusion

In conclusion, technology has gone a long way in ensuring the efficiency of administering justice. Gun detection systems and GPS tracking systems are some of the technological systems that have aided the administration of criminal justice. Gun detection systems enable the dispatch team to get alerts of the areas where gunshots have gone off. Police are therefore able to reach these areas in a good time to apply preventative measures. The GPS tracking systems ensure that offenders are tracked in their limited zones to ensure that they do not commit a crime or be easily found in case of committing it. Technology has therefore been a crucial step in securing the effectiveness of the administration of justice.

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