Blog 1 - The effects of social media on the criminal justice system

From a simple click of the computer mouse to the swift swipe of your finger on a touch-screen, the human race is more socially connected today than we have ever been. Information is traveling faster than ever before reaching audiences on a world scale. From reconnecting with old friends to organizing mass social demonstrations, social media has an infinite number of uses. It is playing a huge role in shaping cultures and countries across the world and has even aided in the overthrowing of entire governments. From small town communities to the largest nations on earth, social media has become entrenched into human society. Social media is largely limitless, uncontrolled, and has drastic effects on our criminal justice system.

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One example of social media is Facebook. Facebook is the world’s largest social networking site with over 914 million accounts and is projected to reach over 1 billion users in the near future. In the United States alone, there are over 163 million accounts on Facebook. If every account was held by a different person, it would consist of over 50% of the entire U.S. population.   Facebook is present in almost every country across the world (Facebook Statistics).  This type of connectivity and information spreading is unprecedented. Along with Facebook, there are other social media sites including Twitter and Instagram. From October 2010 to July 2012, the photo-sharing phenomenon Instagram went from over 100,000 users to over 80 million users “sharing” just under 4 billion photos (Protalinski). With the use of these sites; governments, corporations, special interest groups, small businesses, and regular people are able to send information to a global audience in fractions of a second. All parties involved in these transactions can receive benefits from this information exchange, but these same groups also contribute to the problems associated with it.

“Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are reshaping the way people communicate and take collective action” and were instrumental in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and London riots. It has become apparent that the “instantaneous nature” of these platforms actually had an effect on the time it took for those actual events to occur. It can be argued that the purpose of social media was never meant or designed for the rapid spreading of news so quickly, but instead, has evolved into what it is today. The problems associated with social media are vast, but it is important to focus our attention on the concept of social media and criminal justice. (“Why Rumors Spread So Quickly In Social Networks”) Among the most adversely affected by social media are government agencies, specifically, law enforcement agencies and criminal justice institutions.

One major problem is the need for people to be instantaneously informed. We thirst for information and we want it as fast as possible. Sometimes there is not enough time for information to be analyzed and be backed by concrete evidence before it spreads across social media avenues. The information sent and received may not be accurate. In the United States, there are debates about whether or not information on the internet, or in the social media sphere, is protected under our constitutional rights. Social media has brought about a vast new market for criminals to capitalize on and has created an insurmountable number of people to be victimized. Social media has put Law Enforcement agencies across the country under public scrutiny for allegations of alleged misconduct and has brought cash-strapped cities to their knees with million-dollar law-suits. Social media has brought together millions of citizens to stand together on specific issues and have even influenced law enforcement investigations, as was the case with the Trayvon Martin shooting.  The Criminal Justice system is largely unprepared and ill-equipped to handle this new concept of social media and the resulting phenomenons.

      

             Some Criminal Justice agencies at the local, state, and Federal level have attempted to adapt

to this new social trend. Some have attempted to use social media as a means to disperse information

while others have even used social media as an investigative tool.  It is absolutely imperative that 

changes occur at all levels of the criminal justice system to account for this new global phenomenon.

The failure of government to “catch up”, become knowledgeable, and adapt to the changes brought

on by social media will have dire consequences on government and on society.

Works Cited

"Facebook Statistics." socialbakers: The Recipe for Social Marketing Success. socialbakers, 09/14/2012. Web. 14 Sep 2012. <http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/>.

Protalinski, Emil. "Instagram passes 80 million users." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 26 July 2012. Web. 14 Sep 2012. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57480931-93/instagram-passes-80-million-users/>.

"Why Rumors Spread So Quickly In Social Networks." Communications Of The ACM 55.6 (2012): 70-75. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Sept. 2012.