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Issues in Criminal Justice and Technology
home > Unit 1: history of criminal justice technology
1967:
President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration
of Justice concludes that the "police, with crime laboratories
and radio networks, made early use of technology, but most police
departments could have been equipped 30 or 40 years ago as well
as they are today."
National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the first national law enforcement computing center is created. "the first contact most smaller departments had with computers."- 1968
AT&T announces it will establish 911 number for emergency
calls.
- 1960s:
attempts to develop riot control technologies and use-of-force
alternatives to the police service revolver and baton, including
wooden, rubber and plastic bullets; dart guns adapted from the
veterinarian's tranquilizer gun that inject a drug when fired;
an electrified water jet; a baton that carries a 6,000-volt shock;
chemicals that make streets extremely slippery; strobe lights
that cause giddiness, fainting and nausea; and the stun gun that,
when pressed to the body, delivers a 50,000-volt shock that disables
its victim for several minutes. One of the few technologies to
successfully emerge is the TASER. By 1985, police in every state
have used the TASER, but its popularity is restricted owing to
its limited range and limitations in affecting the drug- and
alcohol-intoxicated.
- 1970s:
large-scale computerization of U.S. police departments begins.
Applications include computer-assisted dispatch (CAD), management
information systems, centralized call collection using three-digit
phone numbers
(911), and centralized integrated dispatching. - 1972:
National Institute of Justice initiates project that leads to
development of Kevlar body armor.
- MID-1970s National Institute of Justice funds Newton to assess suitability of 6 models of night vision devices; leads to widespread use of night vision gear.
- 1975: First fingerprint reader at the FBI.
- 1980
Police begin implementing "enhanced" 911, which allows
dispatchers to see on their computer screens the addresses and
telephone numbers from which 911 calls originated.
- 1982 Pepper spray, widely used by the police as a force alternative, is first developed.
- 1993: Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical, Inc. , the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the Frye standard was not a condition for the admissibility of scientific evidence under the Federal Rules of Evidence. The Court empowered the trial judge with the authority to determine what scientific evidence was admissible and valid. The guidelines used by the Court may have had their foundation in the admissibility of DNA evidence.
- 1996:
National Academy of Sciences announces no longer any reason to
question reliability of DNA evidence.
(Sources; The Evolution and Development of Police Technology; Miscellaneous and Crime Scene Timeline