Criminology in the future

Criminology in the future
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The US Patriot Act of 2001, came into being following security concerns after the 9/11 attacks, with the law giving more power to law enforcement agencies on terrorism related cases (Abele, 2005). Additionally, the law has changed the way enforcement agencies deal with crime because the Act had a direct bearing on the justice system and public policy formulation. Thus, the Act is an important legislation to criminologists interested in how technology and forensic investigations can help in crime prevention in line with provisions of the U.S. Patriot Act. Acquisition of evidence is the first step in forensics investigation, and the Patriot Act empowered investigators in searching for evidence, but concerns for privacy intrusion are growing.
Digital forensics is increasingly becoming an important aspect of investigations, and electronic data analysis can be presented in a court of law. The techniques used in analyzing data should also be permissible in law for the collected evidence to be useful in a court of law. Thus, the US Patriot Act has enabled computer forensics analysts to carry out investigation without fear that there is violation of laws. Cyber forensics seeks to preserve evidence on computer devices and related gadgets, and use of software forensics applications allows investigators to search for hidden files in computer files without fear of lawsuits on privacy violation. In addition, the Patriot Act gives investigators the power to carry out more thorough searches than before.
Before the patriot Act, laws mostly dealt with information on telephone communication, but the adoption of the Act extended the power to search electronic communication through computers and especially through the internet. Similarly, law enforcement agents can obtain information on credit card details in carrying out forensic work unlike before. Thus, there have been changes in policy formulation with computer crimes being regarded as potential terrorist activities depending on the circumstance in other word, computer frauds now fall ...