Difference between revisions of "Technology in Criminal Investigation"

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* Presentation Issues: Lack of understanding from an expert witness regarding how a software, tool, app, etc. works that questions the reliability of their testimony.
 
* Presentation Issues: Lack of understanding from an expert witness regarding how a software, tool, app, etc. works that questions the reliability of their testimony.
 
* Legal Issues: Issues relating to unauthorized access and whether defendants were required to provide decryption passwords, double counting charges and sentencing enhancement issues.
 
* Legal Issues: Issues relating to unauthorized access and whether defendants were required to provide decryption passwords, double counting charges and sentencing enhancement issues.
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The most common issue was related to the ambiguity of laws surrounding search warrants for digital devices. In a lot of cases, "law-enforcement officers did not stope the search when encountered with new information and apply for another warrant".<ref> Cole, K. A., Gupta, S., Gurugubelli, D., & Rogers, M. K. (2015). A review of recent case law related to digital forensics: The current issues.</ref>
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The most common issue was related to the ambiguity of laws surrounding search warrants for digital devices. In a lot of cases, "law-enforcement officers did not stop the search when encountered with new information and apply for another warrant".<ref> Cole, K. A., Gupta, S., Gurugubelli, D., & Rogers, M. K. (2015). A review of recent case law related to digital forensics: The current issues.</ref>
  
 
===Big Data===
 
===Big Data===

Revision as of 23:29, 10 February 2022

Criminal investigation involves obtaining evidence of criminal acts in order to assist in the arrest and prosecution of the culprits. Criminal investigators try to determine the "methods, motives, and identities of criminals".[1] To assist in this process, investigators have access to various technological methods such as compiled public and private data, wiretapping and other forms of electronic-surveillance.[2] Due to the sensitivity of some of these technologies in relation to breach of privacy for citizens, there have been many ethical issues raised questioning the methods in which the federal, state, and local police departments carry out investigations.

History

During the 1700s, technology in law enforcement was extremely limited. Until the Industrial Revolution, police in most societies were still limited to “Watchmen” who patrolled communities while carrying whistles. Throughout the 1800s, the purpose of policing did not prioritize criminal investigations. Rather, officers prioritized making sure their respective politicians are voted for through brute force and intimidation using technologies such as batons or nightsticks.[3] Thus, the police force was notorious for corruption and was ineffective in preventing crime. Another form of technology used by the police during this era were call and alarm boxes.[4] Call boxes were stationed around communities and directly linked communications to local police departments. Alarm boxes were located in businesses that were used to report a criminal incident or other emergencies within that business. Furthermore, it was not until mid-late 1800s that the police had transportation technologies. Before horseback patrols, police officers patrolled on foot. This new form of wagon system proved effective mainly against strikers and demonstrators.[5] It was not until the 1900s that the police went through a reform that shifted in the direction of removing politics from policing. Throughout the 1900s, policing was removed from the hands of politicians and shifted gears towards a standardized and professional model on a state and national level. This shift established the foundation of many advancements in law enforcements such as motorized patrol vehicles, fingerprinting, improved communication systems, and record keeping.[6]

Ethical Challenges

The ethical issues related to criminal investigation significantly vary depending on the technology being discussed. Some of these issues focus on regulation and conduct of individuals who are involved in the investigation process while others are discussed in terms of their broader impact on society.

Forensics Science

Forensics science is the intersection between science and law as forensic scientists assist "law enforcement officers, lawyers, judges, and juries in delivering justice by providing results and conclusions" by collecting and analyzing evidence.[7] The most common forms of forensics analysis involves working with DNA and fingerprints from crime scenes, but forensics science is a broad topic that can include various sciences such as physical sciences in cases requiring ballistic testing. Since forensics science is a broad field and individuals from various fields are employed without any statutory certification or registration, there is an "absence of any regulatory organization" that oversees misconduct and ethical breaches of protocols.[8] Some common issues in this field includes the misrepresentation of evidence by making insufficient or indiscriminate analysis to fit the case rather than presenting the truth, laboratories reporting minimal results without providing sufficient explanations so that those without any domain knowledge will likely interpret results at face value, and privately employed forensic scientists that are at much greater "risk of malpractice as there are less supervision, less peer review, and more financial incentive".[9] These issues are further emphasized since often times the actual "forensic scientist who performed the analysis is not even required to be present in the court for the testimony".[10] Furthermore, the collection, retention, and analysis of DNA samples raises more ethical concerns. For example, the UK National DNA database was criticized for expanding their database to retain the DNA of millions of innocent citizens due to a breach of personal space. In 2008, the "Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights...reached a unanimous judgement that the indefinite retention of innocent people's DNA profiles, fingerprints, and samples breached privacy".[11] Prior to this decision, law enforcement agencies were allowed to retain people's DNA indefinitely even if they were found to be innocent or if their case was dismissed. In addition, DNA is highly susceptible to contamination which can significantly impact their credibility; they also reveal illness history which researchers tend to overuse to find correlations and "often forensic scientists try to use results from genetic research to put ethnic and racial labels on the samples", which is a practice known as racial classifications and many experts have raised questions regarding the scientific utility of a such practice.[12]

Cyber Forensics

While forensics science refers to the analysis of physical evidence in criminal investigation, cyber (or digital) forensics involve searching for information stored in electronic devices.[13] These devices can range from phones, computers, and even automotive vehicles that store data about an individual's personal life. Smart phones, in particular, are very common for use in criminal prosecutions due to the massive amount of data that can be gathered. Thus, the search of smart phones in investigations have raised questions for breach of privacy. Under the Fourth Amendment in the United States, an officer of the state cannot search an individual or their possessions without probable cause. However, officers can "circumvent the Fourth Amendment protective requirement of a warrant to search issued by a neutral magistrate based upon a finding of probable cause that evidence of a crime would be found". [14] This means that if law enforcement believe that they will find incriminating evidence in an individual's smart phone, they are able to acquire a search warrant for it. Unlike search warrants for traditional evidence, however, this allows for a great "deal of police intrusion into private affairs were there were no other legal grounds pursuant to the Fourth Amendment".[15] The foundation for exceptions to the Fourth Amendment in the United States in regards to cyber black box data (digital tracking data) was the result of the United States v. Wurie and Riley v. California. Under prior law, the legal policies concerning a search incident required the following: "1) need to protect a police officer from an arrestee, 2) the need to protect potential evidence that might be destroyed by an arrestee and 3) the counterbalancing privacy interest of the person being arrested". [16] After conducting an analysis of the Fourth Amendment and its relation to smart phone searches, the Supreme Court did not find that a cell phone created any risk to an officer nor a danger of destruction of evidence after the device is secured. However, the third requirement proved to be a gray area. Considering the massive amount of information stored in smart phones and the "technical change in privacy interests weighing heavily in favor of the individual, the Supreme Court held that the search of the device could only be done once a warrant had been secured after finding of probable cause". [17] This docrtrine does not define a limitation to the amount of data that can be examined in a smart phone, thus it is questioned for its application in diverse cases and whether it "could withstand the changes in technology where so much, if not most of a person's life might be found in that personal device".[18]

The Supreme Court's decision on digital evidence left a lot of room for "ambiguity about the interpretation of the 4th Amendment protections to the digital world". [19] When it comes to physical evidence, an investigator is allowed to seize the contraband for analysis which is limited to the item in question. However, "the issue with digital evidence is that the scope is sometimes overboard". [20] Kelly Cole et al. in "A Review of Recent Case Law Related to Digital Forensics: The Current Issues" summarized the ethical issues in digital forensics into the following four categories:

  • Search and Seizure: Investigators exceeding the scope of the warrant and breach of privacy in examination of unrelated evidence not covered by the issued warrant.
  • Data Analysis: Unreliability of data due to errors in the software (e.g. inaccurate time stamps) or contamination during investigation.
  • Presentation Issues: Lack of understanding from an expert witness regarding how a software, tool, app, etc. works that questions the reliability of their testimony.
  • Legal Issues: Issues relating to unauthorized access and whether defendants were required to provide decryption passwords, double counting charges and sentencing enhancement issues.

The most common issue was related to the ambiguity of laws surrounding search warrants for digital devices. In a lot of cases, "law-enforcement officers did not stop the search when encountered with new information and apply for another warrant".[21]

Big Data

Neiva, L., Granja, R., & Machado, H. (2022). Big Data applied to criminal investigations: expectations of professionals of police cooperation in the European Union. Policing and Society, 1-13.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10439463.2022.2029433

Surveillance Systems

Social Media Platforms

Detection & Positioning Systems

Profiling

References

////These are some of the papers that will be used for final draft

McCartney, C. (2006). The DNA expansion programme and criminal investigation. British Journal of Criminology, 46(2), 175-192.

Marshall, A. M. (2009). Digital forensics: digital evidence in criminal investigations. John Wiley & Sons.

Hamilton, R. J. (2020). Social Media Platforms in International Criminal Investigations. Case W. Res. J. Int'l L., 52, 213.

Hu, J. (2018, November). Big data analysis of criminal investigations. In 2018 5th International Conference on Systems and Informatics (ICSAI) (pp. 649-654). IEEE.

Khan, S., Ansari, F., Dhalvelkar, H. A., & Computer, S. (2017, January). Criminal investigation using call data records (CDR) through big data technology. In 2017 International Conference on Nascent Technologies in Engineering (ICNTE) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.

Park, H., Cho, S., & Kwon, H. C. (2009, January). Cyber forensics ontology for cyber criminal investigation. In International Conference on Forensics in Telecommunications, Information, and Multimedia (pp. 160-165). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Duquenoy, P., Gotterbarn, D., Kimppa, K. K., Patrignani, N., & Wong, B. W. (2018). Addressing Ethical Challenges of Creating New Technology for Criminal Investigation: The VALCRI Project. In Societal Implications of Community-Oriented Policing and Technology (pp. 31-38). Springer, Cham.

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  1. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Criminal investigation. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/criminal-investigation
  2. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Criminal investigation. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/criminal-investigation
  3. ↑ Mason, A. C. (2015). Continuity and change in the history of police technology: The case of contemporary crime analysis (Order No. 1588460). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1682477824). Retrieved from https://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/continuity-change-history-police-technology-case/docview/1682477824/se-2?accountid=14667
  4. ↑ Mason, A. C. (2015). Continuity and change in the history of police technology: The case of contemporary crime analysis (Order No. 1588460). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1682477824). Retrieved from https://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/continuity-change-history-police-technology-case/docview/1682477824/se-2?accountid=14667
  5. ↑ Mason, A. C. (2015). Continuity and change in the history of police technology: The case of contemporary crime analysis (Order No. 1588460). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1682477824). Retrieved from https://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/continuity-change-history-police-technology-case/docview/1682477824/se-2?accountid=14667
  6. ↑ Mason, A. C. (2015). Continuity and change in the history of police technology: The case of contemporary crime analysis (Order No. 1588460). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1682477824). Retrieved from https://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/continuity-change-history-police-technology-case/docview/1682477824/se-2?accountid=14667
  7. ↑ Yadav, P. K. (2017). Ethical issues across different fields of forensic science. Egyptian journal of forensic sciences, 7(1), 1-6.
  8. ↑ Yadav, P. K. (2017). Ethical issues across different fields of forensic science. Egyptian journal of forensic sciences, 7(1), 1-6.
  9. ↑ Yadav, P. K. (2017). Ethical issues across different fields of forensic science. Egyptian journal of forensic sciences, 7(1), 1-6.
  10. ↑ Yadav, P. K. (2017). Ethical issues across different fields of forensic science. Egyptian journal of forensic sciences, 7(1), 1-6.
  11. ↑ Yadav, P. K. (2017). Ethical issues across different fields of forensic science. Egyptian journal of forensic sciences, 7(1), 1-6.
  12. ↑ Yadav, P. K. (2017). Ethical issues across different fields of forensic science. Egyptian journal of forensic sciences, 7(1), 1-6.
  13. ↑ Losavio, M., Pastukov, P., & Polyakova, S. (2015). Cyber black box/event data recorder: legal and ethical perspectives and challenges with digital forensics. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, 10(4), 4.
  14. ↑ Losavio, M., Pastukov, P., & Polyakova, S. (2015). Cyber black box/event data recorder: legal and ethical perspectives and challenges with digital forensics. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, 10(4), 4.
  15. ↑ Losavio, M., Pastukov, P., & Polyakova, S. (2015). Cyber black box/event data recorder: legal and ethical perspectives and challenges with digital forensics. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, 10(4), 4.
  16. ↑ Losavio, M., Pastukov, P., & Polyakova, S. (2015). Cyber black box/event data recorder: legal and ethical perspectives and challenges with digital forensics. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, 10(4), 4.
  17. ↑ Losavio, M., Pastukov, P., & Polyakova, S. (2015). Cyber black box/event data recorder: legal and ethical perspectives and challenges with digital forensics. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, 10(4), 4.
  18. ↑ Losavio, M., Pastukov, P., & Polyakova, S. (2015). Cyber black box/event data recorder: legal and ethical perspectives and challenges with digital forensics. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, 10(4), 4.
  19. ↑ Cole, K. A., Gupta, S., Gurugubelli, D., & Rogers, M. K. (2015). A review of recent case law related to digital forensics: The current issues.
  20. ↑ Cole, K. A., Gupta, S., Gurugubelli, D., & Rogers, M. K. (2015). A review of recent case law related to digital forensics: The current issues.
  21. ↑ Cole, K. A., Gupta, S., Gurugubelli, D., & Rogers, M. K. (2015). A review of recent case law related to digital forensics: The current issues.
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