Advancement of technology and policy variations
Advancement of technology and policy variations has an impact on the legal background in the United States. With the constant changes in technology, legal stakeholders must constantly adapt by establishing policies, admissibility of evidence, and law enforcement. As a result of these changes, law enforcement, and legal fraternity have to work as a team to keep up with technological trends. Rapid changes in technology caught the legal fraternity by surprise. The legal landscape did not anticipate the massive changes in technology and its effect on meting justice to society. However, due to the advancement of technology, prosecutors used digital evidence to close cases.
Fingerprint analysis is an exciting phenomenon. Throughout a world of more than one billion people, no two people have the same fingerprints. Even in identical twins with the same DNA makeup, prints are different. For this reason, the legal fraternity, therefore, use this unique nature of fingerprint in criminal situations and biometric security. The fingerprint analysis technology has been in use to identify criminals for more than a century. All this while, the piece of technology enables stakeholders in the legal fraternity to investigators and prosecutors to link a suspect to crime scenes. Records of fingerprints also facilitate judges to determine matters regarding probation, pardoning, and parole decisions. The presence of prints in a crime scene shows that a person was physically present.
Initially, law enforcement agencies used to store fingerprint records in paper form. It was cumbersome to retrieve this information. However, digital storage enabled the police to store information in computers and result in ease of access. With the invention of internet connectivity around the world, law enforcement institutions had the opportunity to share vital information about suspects. Before introducing the internet, a person could commit crimes in different regions and move around without notice. However, during investigations, detectives have a centralized fingerprint database. For instance, if a person commits a crime in New York and gets arrested in Los Angeles for another crime, the police can link him to both crimes to the presence of fingerprints.
Apart from being used in identifying the presence of suspects in a crime scene, fingerprints are also essential in security systems. Technology helped experts to design access systems based on a person’s fingerprints. Access systems work through biometric security solutions. Unauthorized personnel cannot illegally access premises that have biometric security solutions. Alternatively, biometric security solutions enable security personnel to identify people trying to gain illegal entrance and exit. Through this technology, the crime rate due to trespassing reduced significantly. Moreover, these cases are relatively straightforward to judge due to the presence of fingerprints as evidence in court.
Gun control law is arguably one of the most controversial topics in the United States. The issue has an equal measure of critics and supporters. The law has faced multiple revisions and criticism. A section of Americans is against gun ownership by civilians, while another group insists that guns are essential for personal protection. The law continues to create a rift in the American legal landscape. Each state has different regulations regarding gun control laws. However, all States agree on conducting background checks before issuing gun ownership licenses. Through legal action and policies, most states prevent carrying guns in public places such as schools and colleges. Some states have restrictions on ownership and the use of assault rifles within their constituency. Many times, the courts have an active case regarding gun control policies. Various research organizations, including the Centers for Diseases control, continue to fund studies related to gun ownership. The CDC found out that the presence of a gun in a home increased the chances of a homicide. On the other hand, some experts suggest that gun ownership is a means of deterring crimes in residences.