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Criminal Justice

Justice

The use of technology has allowed the various law enforcement agencies in states, the nation and the world to create effective modes on communication, or interconnectivity, that allows for efficient levels of information exchange and subsequent ability to track and apprehend offenders. Although this new technology has benefits in all areas of crime, from Driving While Intoxicated to international terrorism, one of its most public uses is its ability to track and communicate information on sex offenders.

Why Sex Offenders?

Due to the way our government is set up, there are both Federal and state laws. Further, each state has different laws, rules and regulations. This becomes complicated when one is able to freely move between the various states and jurisdictions. In the past, prior to the interconnectivity of law enforcement agencies, a criminal could easily move to another state and leave his or her criminal record behind. Of course this poses a particular problem with sex offenders because of the various laws and restrictions on where they can live and move to. With the interconnectedness of the various agencies, law enforcement agencies can now better enforce these restrictions no matter where the particular sex offender resides.

Two of the most popular and effective inter-agency communication programs that allow for this efficient transfer of information between the jurisdictions are the Modus Operandi Database and the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program.

Violent Criminal Apprehension Program

The Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, (or Vi-CAP) is a nationwide computer system designed to track and coordinate information on violent crimes, particularly murders. It is provided to local law enforcement agencies by the FBI and compiles information on solves and unsolved homicides and kidnappings, missing persons involving foul play, and sexual assault cases. Officers simply enter information on these cases and the program attempts to make possible connections to other entered data. (FBI).

Clearly this program increases understanding of criminal typologies because it allows a law enforcement agency to find patterns in behavior across numerous jurisdictions. More so, it is an easy and efficient method of tracking criminals, including sex offenders, especially in cases that have gone unsolved for numerous years.

Modus Operandi Database

Modus Operandi, which means, "mode of operation" is used to describe a criminal's characteristic patterns and style of going about their criminal acts. It is often used in offender profiling as tracking the modus operandi often leads to clues involving the offender's psychology. A modus operandi database merely collects and organizes information on modus operandi, allowing law enforcement agencies to make connections to other agency information.