Criminal Identification Procedures in the Twenty-First Century Essay

Criminal Identification Procedures in the Twenty-First Century - Essay Example However, because these advances are still so new it is not always possible to understand their full implication. Do they have unintended consequences? Are they really as useful as they appear? And perhaps more importantly will we become so reliant on this technology that we throw away good old sleuthing techniques and human controls and simply let technology take over? These are all incredibly important questions that we must think carefully about. This essay will examine some of these questions by looking at the pros and cons of specific technological advances. In the criminal justice system there are two opposing modes of looking of how to deal with criminals. The first is the due process model. The gist of this model is that an individual can never be deprived of basic human rights no matter how horrible a crime he or she has committed. Even to put someone in prison is to take away the criminal’s inalienable right to liberty and there must be many appeals and a thoroughly scrutinized process to ensure that everything is done by the book. At its heart the due process model would rather see nine guilty people on the street than one innocent person in prison. The end result of this mode requires many hours of painstaking work by humans checking and rechecking evidence and the court case moving very slowly through the system. The second mode of looking at criminal justice is the Criminal Control Mode. This system puts a high value on locking up guilty people. It focuses on protecting citizens from criminals as quickly as possible. Und er this system more money is spent on policing and deterring and prosecuting criminals as quickly as possible so that the police and prosecutors can move on quickly to the next batch. If an innocent person is caught in the net, that is a tragedy, but what is important is that many bad guys got caught too.