The proliferation of information systems throughout the criminal justice system has prompted many universities supporting criminal justice programs to add criminal justice information systems technology to their curriculums. Several universities have gone so far as to hire professors with specializations in information technology and to offer criminal justice information systems as an area of concentration. Introduction to Criminal Justice Information Systems gives an overview of the various software systems and technologies currently used in the criminal justice environment. The book covers a variety of topics critical to each member of the criminal justice system: police, prosecutor, courts, and corrections. It details the current systems in use, how they are used, and how separate systems interact with others. It also suggests how the current technology and the processes built upon it will evolve. While designed as a textbook to meet the needs of an introductory criminal justice information technology course, Introduction to Criminal Justice Information Systems is also a flexible resource useful to professionals in relevant areas of the criminal justice system. With rapidly increasing development and use of technology in modern law enforcement, this book provides a much-needed reference for those who are responsible for its implementation as well as an essential introduction to those who will become responsible for it. An instructor's manual is available as an electronic download upon request.

For over sixty million Americans, possessing a criminal record overshadows everything else about their public identity. A rap sheet, or even a court appearance or background report that reveals a run-in with the law, can have fateful consequences for a person’s interactions with just about everyone else. The Eternal Criminal Record makes transparent a pervasive system of police databases and identity screening that has become a routine feature of American life. The United States is unique in making criminal information easy to obtain by employers, landlords, neighbors, even cyberstalkers. Its nationally integrated rap-sheet system is second to none as an effective law enforcement tool, but it has also facilitated the transfer of ever more sensitive information into the public domain. While there are good reasons for a person’s criminal past to be public knowledge, records of arrests that fail to result in convictions are of questionable benefit. Simply by placing someone under arrest, a police officer has the power to tag a person with a legal history that effectively incriminates him or her for life. In James Jacobs’s view, law-abiding citizens have a right to know when individuals in their community or workplace represent a potential threat. But convicted persons have rights, too. Jacobs closely examines the problems created by erroneous record keeping, critiques the way the records of individuals who go years without a new conviction are expunged, and proposes strategies for eliminating discrimination based on criminal history, such as certifying the records of those who have demonstrated their rehabilitation.

Researchers at US universities and various institutes explore the impact that developments in information technology have had on the criminal justice system over the past several decades. They explain that computers and information technology are more than a set of tools to accomplish a set of tasks, but must be considered an integral component of

The proliferation of information systems throughout the criminal justice system has prompted many universities supporting criminal justice programs to add criminal justice information systems technology to their curriculums. Several universities have gone so far as to hire professors with specializations in information technology and to offer criminal justice information systems as an area of concentration. Introduction to Criminal Justice Information Systems gives an overview of the various software systems and technologies currently used in the criminal justice environment. The book covers a variety of topics critical to each member of the criminal justice system: police, prosecutor, courts, and corrections. It details the current systems in use, how they are used, and how separate systems interact with others. It also suggests how the current technology and the processes built upon it will evolve. While designed as a textbook to meet the needs of an introductory criminal justice information technology course, Introduction to Criminal Justice Information Systems is also a flexible resource useful to professionals in relevant areas of the criminal justice system. With rapidly increasing development and use of technology in modern law enforcement, this book provides a much-needed reference for those who are responsible for its implementation as well as an essential introduction to those who will become responsible for it. An instructor's manual is available as an electronic download upon request.