Prison Issues in the Criminal Justice Field : Technology

Want your palm read? Electronically, that is...

Peggy L. Ritchie — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 16:33:00 GMT

Read this article on the use of electronic palm readers as a new crime-fighting biometric. At the Las Vegas Consumer Electrons Association's showcase a year ago, this technology won awards. The FBI was looking closely at it there. If you ever get the chance to attend this show, it is incredible. Bill Gates was there marketing his new VISTA software. Dancing Robots took to the stage.

There are many applications for biometrics in prisons and jails:

Staff identification
Inmate identification access and release verification
Visitors.

What do you think?

Read about other biometric research and applications here.

"Policing Terror" means developing data sharing and analysis tools-

Peggy L. Ritchie — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 20:34:00 GMT

I consider prison and jail staff as first responders, even though in the headlines, they are seldom given credit for their roles as part of this critical community. In most states, they are part of the larger homeland security agencies and do share intelligence data. FCW.Com (Federal Computer Week) has an interesting story called "Policing Terror". First responders in many agencies are monitoring terrorism through the continued development of intelligence centers that gather, analyze and share intelligence data. In this article you can read about:

Los Angeles's Take on Intelligence
Data Fusion in Louisiana
Read the referenced Rand report "Unconquerable Nation: Knowing our Enemies, Strengthening Ourselves"

Other resources on counter-terrorism are available from the National Institute of Corrections or search the U.S. Department of Justice resources for Technical Assistance and Training (click here.)

A specific related reference from a previous blog is published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on radicalization in prisons.

Want to Eradicate Cell Phones in Prisons and Jails?

Peggy L. Ritchie — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:17:00 GMT

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is working on solutions for getting rid of cell phones in their prisons, or at least "render them useless". Check out the newest online edition of Corrections Forum. (Click on the top section called "Contents" then scroll down to the article, "Getting Rid of Inmate 'Cell' Phones. Click again and it should take you to the article).

Information is also availabe on the National Institute of Corrections Justnet; in the Winter 2005 Techbeat. Do you have information to share with others? Let us know. Thanks.

Free Federal Excess Property...How to get it...

Peggy L. Ritchie — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 17:11:00 GMT

If you are interested in how to obtain free federal excess property, the National Law Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center has help for you on their JUSTNET website. Be sure to scroll down to the "Important Links" section as well.

Have you tried before? Any success stories to share with others? Please respond below.

It's in the Mail: Anthrax, What You Need to Know

Peggy L. Ritchie — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:33:00 GMT

The National Institute of Justice published its Summer TechBeat . A main article called: "It's in the Mail" provides key information on What you Need to Know About Anthrax (see page 3 of the entire Techbeat).

Additional links on Anthrax: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Note: This Techbeat also has an article on "Principles of Forensic DNA", go to the Presidents DNA Initiative for more information. Another source? "Simple, Rapid and Accurate Quantitation of Human DNA" by Buel.

To Catch a Thief

Peggy L. Ritchie — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:43:00 GMT

Take a look at new technology being applied to auto theft in the community through license plate recognition.. The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center's (NLECTC) publication TECHbeat gives us a snapshot into the monitoring of license plates that can assist officers in immediately tracking a stolen vehicle.

Can we use this technology in prison parking lots?
Should we be monitoring vehicles coming and going within our prison compounds?
Would this be useful for community monitoring of sex offenders getting too close to schools?
How about integrating this technology with GPS capabilities as an alert if an offender's license plate is in a restricted area?
Crime prevention tool?
What are the legal implications? Technical challenges?

SHARE your thoughts...

Take a look at NLECTC's "Smart Briefs" a new publication. An example is on Less than Lethal Technologies.

Free Crime Analysis Unit Development Kit from NIJ

Peggy L. Ritchie — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 14:48:00 GMT

The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center for the Rocky Mountain region has released a free Crime Analysis Unit Kit. You'll find:

Analysis Examples
How to set up a Crime Analysis Unit
How to get interns
Manuals and Publications
Free Software
Crime Mapping tools
Forums

Prisons, jails, community corrections folks we're all in the business of public safety. You can order this information on a CD as well. Share with us how you can apply this information to PREA investigations...

New BJA study - "The Art of Performance Measurement for Criminal Justice Information System Projects"

Peggy L. Ritchie — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:00:00 GMT

The Bureau of Justice Assistance will soon release "The Art of Performance Measurement for Criminal Justice Information System Projects". Dr. Peter Scharf, Executive Director of the Center for Society, Law and Justice, University of New Orleans completed this document through a BJA grant and with BJA's permission you can read it now.

Some of the chapters include the following:

Introduction on Characteristics of Good Performance Measures
Which goals Does the Project Help Us Achieve?
How Does the Project Help Us Achieve Our Goals?
What are the Best Measures of Our Agency's Goals?
What Are the Best Measures of Our Agency's Goals?

There are project examples from Fingerprint ID Systems to Case Management Systems-ENJOY!

Actually, this document can be used for many different types of performance measures; think of it as a primer on HOW TO...

Note other information on BJA's website including the BJA's Regional Information Sharing Conferences, Technical Assistance, and the National Crime Prevention Council Blog.

OTHER NEWS THIS WEEK:

BJS Document on "Improving Criminal History Records for Background Checks, 2005"

The National Crime Prevention Council launches Blog.

National Institute of Justice "Conference on Science, Technology and the Law," Nov.2-5, 2006.

National Public Radio aired a story on Mental Health Courts...go here to listen.