The use of information technology in the criminal justice system.

Since the advent of IT, cutting-edge technology has been used by law enforcement to
strengthen security measures. This is especially true for institutions like banks, which require
extremely high levels of security due to the sensitive nature of their customers' financial
transactions and the large volume of personal information they store ( Maguire, Morgan, and
Reiner, 2007).

Thanks to rapid technological development, there are now a variety of methods for keeping
tabs on the whereabouts and actions of individuals anywhere in the world. For example, the
FBI's sophisticated system allows agents to keep tabs on various criminal communities by
seeing firsthand how information is shared amongst numerous sources, providing the agency
with a window into which it can spot any strange goings-on.

For the most part, government security officers equipped with cutting-edge IT make use of
cutting-edge IT to track down criminals, using, for example, special soft wares that can interpret
information acquired from various sources of mass media like cable TV and radio; information
acquired voice information is then translated into text message which enables detection of
voice and speech sounds of the various people.

The use of such tools allows law enforcement to identify dangerous organizations, including
terrorist cells (Department of defense, 2010).

In addition, federal authorities can utilize IT to decode coded information from other systems
with the help of specialized software, putting them one step ahead of criminals by learning of
impending crimes in advance.

A piece of software like "magic Lantern" (Department of defense, 2010) is a prime example; it
sends viruses to the computers of suspected criminals via email, and when the user reads the
email, the virus activates and establishes a network connecting the suspect's machine with the
FBI's server (Department of defense, 2010).

Officers defend their use of the equipment, arguing that federal investigators have the
authority to conduct surveillance under the Fourth Amendment.

The usage of mobile devices as an early warning system is another technical development that
helps curb criminal activity. Despite the widespread frequency with which motor vehicle theft,
burglary, and other forms of property damage occur in modern society, victims of these crimes
can now receive instantaneous notifications on their mobile devices should their vehicles or
homes be targeted. The use of a mobile phone to trace a stolen vehicle is illustrative of this
phenomenon.

There has been a significant decrease in car theft as a result of the proliferation of information
technology firms, which includes the use of the telephone as a tool to deter theft. The
proliferation of tracker alarms is largely credited with reducing crime rates, particularly that
associated with automobile theft.