You have just graduated from the AIU Online Criminal Justice program and acquired your dream career working with the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). You love to write articles of criminal justice interest, and because the NCJRS provides links to millions and millions of criminal justice references, you find yourself in awe of your career.

For your first assignment, you have been asked to present a report at an upcoming criminal justice conference. This report will help your colleagues better understand how databases, technology, policies, and so forth affect the administration of justice and the outcome of court cases in particular. Your training coordinator expects you to highlight several examples of how criminal justice databases, computer technology, and policies have changed the way in which crimes are investigated and how criminals are brought to justice.

Pick 2 of the following databases, and address how technology tools and policies have changed the legal landscape in the United States in a 4-page paper:

  • Fingerprint analysis
  • DNA databases
  • Ballistics testing
  • Tire-tread analysis
  • Tracking of illegal pornographic images
  • Modus operandi databases
  • Three-strikes laws
  • Gun control laws
  • The USA PATRIOT Act
  • Megan’s law
  • Domestic violence laws
  • The exclusionary rule
  • Lie detectors
  • Inmate classification systems
  • Truth-in-sentencing laws