Should murder be criminalized?

The greatest failure among the American pro-life movement is the squeamish attitude toward criminalizing abortion. When so-called "pro-life" Christians call for a restriction on some abortions, what they are really saying is that they want the federal government to regulate child killing much in the way that the FDA regulates the selling of meat and vegetables. There would be no penalties beyond the loss of a license and a stiff fine perhaps.

Nicaragua, a country that was recently communist, has passed into law a six-year prison term for performing illegal abortions with stiffer sentences of up to 30 years for women who had abortions and for those who aided them. The Christians in Nicaragua understand that murdering one's own child is a far more unnatural crime than killing for money.

President-elect and former communist president Daniel Ortega, who once favored abortion rights, changed his stance and supported the law after strongly embracing Roman Catholicism and winning over voters in a country with a conservative religious tradition. Nicaragua is about 85 percent Catholic, with many of the remainder belonging to conservative evangelical churches.

The End of Crime (Part 8)

Using “Ultra-Broadband” Wireless Internet to track criminals

Upon hearing this idea, some people will decry the federal invasion of privacy as a violation of first amendment rights. But such an argument is a double-edged sword. Individual citizens also have the first amendment right to publish information about convicted criminals living in their own neighborhoods. Since all criminal proceedings are public records, there is nothing to stop individuals from creating maps of where released and paroled and criminals are living. Individual initiative is going to be used to track criminal offenders on the Internet. In fact, a national database on convicted sex offenders is already available.

The availability and speed of wireless broadband is going to soon expand to a speed that will allow any individual to use real-time video rendering of 3-D maps depicting every square foot of the earth on all types of portable devices.

A simple background check is all that is needed to set up such a nation-wide network. It in fact, such a system already exists. Anyone can pay for a background check for any individual. Websites exist which compile information about individuals and will sell you a complete background check for as little as $9.95. However, the information is free. If you know where to look for each record, you can compile most of this information without any legal regulations.

As a public school teacher in the state of Florida, I am often surprised at how little privacy I have under the law. Some states have laws that prohibit employers from asking applicants to disclose their arrest records unless they were convicted of felonies. Only when hired, are employees subject to a background check. However, in my school district each applicant is asked to disclose not only their conviction record, both felonies and misdemeanors, but also all arrests and even non-criminal traffic tickets. I am also required by law to report any arrest – even a criminal traffic violation – to my school district within 48 hours of the event. I was somewhat shocked that this is allowable, but Florida’s laws don’t protect the so-called “right to privacy” to the same extent as other states.

People are tired of those who prey on young people, so the public’s desire to see criminal offenders ferreted out before any damage can be done overrides any “right to privacy.” I would be surprised if most churches won’t soon require this level of scrutiny for all ministers ordained within their denominations.

While I agree that there is not a “right to privacy” in the constitution (as pro-abortion advocates argued in Roe v. Wade) I am just as concerned as anyone about government intrusion into my private life. Even though I don’t have a God-given “right to privacy,” it is not the civil government’s role to monitor the lives of its citizens on a minute level.

But we live in a changing world. All information on criminal arrests, court proceedings and convictions has long been public record. Those with the time and money to research could always investigate and find out a lot of information about anyone. However, now the Internet makes this information available to anyone at a low cost and at a high rate of convenience.

Soon it will become obvious that having a national database of all criminal records is the way to help put a stop to crime. Currently, a person may hide his past record from friends and neighbors and is only required to divulge his criminal record to employers. But when each person is exposed to public scrutiny, the public embarrassment of being known as a criminal offender will be enough to deter many crimes from happening in the first place.

The End of Crime (Part 7)

A Scenario of the Near Future

Let’s say you were robbed at gunpoint at an ATM machine (as I was in October of 2006). The robber escaped long before the police are able to arrive. But using a police dog, they were able to trace a fresh scent to a parking area by a dumpster where it suddenly ended. A police helicopter was called in. The infrared photography revealed a “hot spot” in that area of the parking lot where a vehicle had been. The trace unfortunately ended there, but I was left wondering how advances in technology could have brought it further.

Let’s say that the criminal had a GPS tracking device in his vehicle. The police would locate the exact spot where the vehicle was when the robbery occurred. They would quickly traced the path of the vehicle until the robber could have been arrested.

However, let’s say that the robber was techno-savvy and was able to disable his GPS device. Most public areas will have cameras that will record the make and model of all vehicles including license plate numbers. Even if that were not possible, satellite video would then be used. Even at night it will be possible to trace the headlights of a car from space and then use that tracking system to locate the vehicle of the fleeing suspect.

The End of Crime (Part 6)

Global Photography, Digital Video Storage, Broadband Internet

Let’s take the concept of video surveillance a step further. Although now incredibly expensive, it won’t be long before satellite photography gives us the ability to watch virtually every square mile on the planet on video. These cameras will be able to zoom in to watch and analyze whatever a computer decides is suspicious movement. Currently, satellite images are able to detect details down to several square feet. It won’t be long until this gives us the ability to see a few square inches. Infrared technology and low spectrum light analysis will enable us to see through cloud cover, forested areas and even through some man-made structures. Moreover, these won’t simply be photographs, but video digitally recorded on the earth and rendered using 3-D digital animation combined with up-to-date maps and GPS information.

I remember the day in 2006 when I bought a 500 Gigabyte hard drive for under $200. This small box can store over 40 hours of high quality digital video. Compare that to my first computer, a Macintosh Plus with one megabyte of memory and a 40 Megabyte hard drive at a cost of well over $1000. Today’s computers are literally ten thousand times more powerful than what was available 15 years ago. The way that we think about video is changing fast. It will soon be possible to store vast amounts of video information and analyze it instantly with cutting edge software.

The Global Satellite Video Surveillance system will rely on a hybrid of real time video, GPS information and interactive maps. Take Google Earth. It’s a free downloadable interactive program that shows a 3-D interactive map of every square foot of the earth and gives all the information that other mapping services, such as roads, place names, 3-D buildings and terrain, and the locations of a variety of businesses and services.

If we were to add GPS into the mix with some advances in digital animation, it will be possible one day to render a real time image of any individual or moving vehicle on the planet. That way you will be able to watch a movie of any person as they travel from place to place in their daily lives.

Eventually “reality” entertainment will rely on individuals who will digitally animate themselves in a 3-D virtual reality program as they travel the world in real life adventures.

Even before the system advances that far, global imagery and GPS combined with powerful digital mapping applications will eliminate virtually all robbery and violent crimes. It will soon be possible to track to location of any individual on the Internet from any portable computer.

The End of Crime (Part 5)

Big Brother is watching you in Chicago:
“Smart” surveillance cameras are already in use

What would people do if terrorists bombed ten major cities in one day? What if the threat of nuclear bombs carried in suitcases capable of killing millions of people became a technological possibility?

We would put cameras everywhere and GPS bracelets, for those who wanted to avoid the hassle of being a suspect, would not be a long step from there. If the people volunteer to cooperate together to eliminate terrorism, then we are not really compromising our civil liberties. Only if it became mandatory for U.S. citizens would I say that constitutional rights are being violated.

In one major U.S. city, an effort to put video surveillance into practice is already taking place. The city of Chicago is the largest city vulnerable to foreign attack coming from Canada. While it is unlikely that weapons of mass destruction could be carried through airport security, the Canadian border could more easily be used.

This was the theme of the 1994 movie, The Jackal, in which a would-be presidential assassin hired a Canadian weapons expert to manufacture a computer-controlled automatic gun. The weapon was smuggled into the United States via the Great Lakes into Chicago and brought to Washington D.C. via van. It’s not unlikely that terrorists are currently trying to get a WMD into America from Canada or Mexico in an attempt to commit an act of terror.

But this can be prevented before the technology develops to the place where manufacturing nuclear weapons becomes easier for terrorists. A New York Times article described Chicago’s attempt to fend off such an attack and to take bite out of crime in the process. According to the article:

A highly advanced system of video surveillance is being installed throughout the city. Mayor Richard M. Daley says, “Cameras are the equivalent of hundreds of sets of eyes. They're the next best things to having police officers stationed at every potential trouble spot.”

Police specialists already monitor live footage from about 2,000 surveillance cameras around the city, so the addition of 250 cameras under the mayor's new plan is not a great jump. The way these cameras will be used, however, is an extraordinary technological leap.

Sophisticated new computer programs will immediately alert the police whenever anyone viewed by any of the cameras placed at buildings and other structures considered terrorist targets wanders aimlessly in circles, lingers outside a public building, pulls a car onto the shoulder of a highway, or leaves a package and walks away from it. Images of those people will be highlighted in color at the city's central monitoring station, allowing dispatchers to send police officers to the scene immediately.

Officials here designed the system after studying the video surveillance network in London, which became a world leader in this technology during the period when Irish terrorists were active. The Chicago officials also studied systems used in Las Vegas casinos, as well as those used by Army combat units. The system they have devised, they say, will be the most sophisticated in the United States and perhaps the world.

Many cities have installed large numbers of surveillance cameras along streets and near important buildings, but as the number of these cameras has grown, it has become impossible to monitor all of them. The software that will be central to Chicago’s surveillance system is designed to direct specialists to screens that show anything unusual happening.

When the system is in place video images will be instantly available to dispatchers at the city’s 911 emergency center, which receives about 18,000 calls each day. Dispatchers will be able to tilt or zoom the cameras, some of which magnify images up to 400 times, in order to watch suspicious people and follow them from one camera's range to another’s.

The surveillance network will embrace cameras placed not only by the police department, but also by a variety of city agencies including the transit, housing and aviation authorities. Private companies that maintain their own surveillance of areas around their buildings will also be able to send their video feeds to the central control room that is being built at a fortified city building.

The 250 new cameras, along with the new system dispatchers will use to monitor them, are to be in place by the spring of 2006. A $5.1 million federal grant will be used to pay for the cameras, and the city will add $3.5 million to pay for the computer network that will connect them.

“The value we gain in public safety far outweighs any perception by the community that this is Big Brother who’s watching,” Mr. Huberman said. “The feedback we're getting is that people welcome this. It makes them feel safer.”

City officials counter that the cameras will monitor only public spaces. Rather than curb the system's future expansion, they have raised the possibility of placing cameras in commuter and rapid transit cars and on the city's street-sweeping vehicles.

The End of Crime (Part 4)

GPS will eliminate domestic terrorism and drug trafficking

What if terrorists planned an orchestrated attack on ten major cities in America in a horrible event that would dwarf the significance of 9/11? If the technology were available, I think most people would favor putting cameras and GPS devices everywhere.

Think about it. What if immigrants and international visitors were required to buy a cheap GPS device that would be worn at all times while they were in the country? What if we had, for several weeks prior to the event, a map of the whereabouts of all the hijackers in the 9/11 terrorist attacks? We may not have been able to prevent the first bombing, but it would have been possible to isolate the three other planes that crashed killing thousands of people. It would also have been possible to trace their steps backward to find other terrorists who may have cooperated with them.

There are in fact, cell phone recordings of people who died on Flight 93. Howver, GPS would have brought this to a higher level.

In the same way, GPS devices planted on known terrorists could map out vast networks of terrorist training cells worldwide. Using satellite technology these terrorists in training could be pinpointed and eliminated by Special Forces.

GPS can also eliminate drug trafficking. Think about this scenario. An FBI agent is able to implant a small device about the size of a computer chip on known several drug dealers or their vehicles without their knowledge. After a few months, a vast network of drug trafficking is mapped out on a computer. The FBI sees the dealers of larger volumes and where drugs are entering the country.

The End of Crime (Part 3)

Paranoids and Conspiracy Theorists Beware

Before going any further with this thesis, I realize from the outset that there are plenty of people who will see the ability to record virtually every square foot of the earth and to track individuals with GPS as a threat to freedom. There are Christians who will think that this is the “Mark of the Beast” and a sign that a worldwide dictatorship is imminent. Others will be reminded of George Orwell’s 1984 and other anti-utopian tales.

But there were churchmen who decried the invention of the printing press as demonic. Did you ever read Doctor Faustus? This was a popular tale of the Renaissance based on the true story of the man who financed Gutenberg's first press run of Bibles to the people of Strasburg. The experts who saw the first Bible manuscripts were so amazed at what they saw, that they accused him of dealing with the devil. Or so one version of the legend goes.

I remember in 1994 talking to a pastor about the world-wide-web and what the church could do with it. We were very involved in social activism and world missions and I thought that a web presence was a great idea. I said that I would be willing to help the church set up a website. His reaction was, “Yes, but what are the risks?” Another man I talked to didn't want a website for his organization because he thought others would be able to tap into his computer and see what he was doing. People most often fear what they don’t understand.

GPS, global mapping and digital video are technologies that are going to radically change our way of life much like electricity did at the turn of the century. I don't think that the light bulb and the telephone are my salvation, but electricity is indispensable to my way of life.

Technology is not going to be our salvation. But what I see on the horizon is remarkable. I think that it is going to be increasingly difficult for violent people to hide the way they do now.

Just last night (10/23/2006) one of the most violent incidents the history of Orlando took place. Gang members took shotguns and carried out six armed robberies in one neighborhood. All the police have is a description of the car and that they were three men. Another man who was shot last night is in such bad condition he can't speak to police. It would be ridiculous to think that if we had the satellite technology to find out immediately where these people are that we wouldn't want to use it.

Would that stop the evil that lurks in men's hearts? No, only the Holy Spirit can do that. But compassion dictates that we must use whatever technology that is available to save judicially innocent lives.

I am not only interested in this from a crime perspective although I think that that is the application that is going to have the greatest impact. This is going to literally change the way that people see the world and gain knowledge. These technologies are going to bring things to an unimaginable level.

Have you downloaded Google Earth yet? Check out this free application and play around with it. Then try to think about what people will be doing with it in ten years. If you think that what I am saying so far is crazy, please post a comment. One of the reasons I am posting this to my Blog first is to get feedback.

The End of Crime (comments)

A few friends have given me some interesting feedback on the complete “End of Crime” article, which I’ll be posting in segments. One wanted to know if my recent robbery experience was the inspiration for this series.

Yes, it got me thinking about how easily it could have been prevented. A few hundred dollars of camera equipment in the parking lot would have helped to catch the robber. Instead we have to rely on the bank to belatedly cooperate with the police in releasing any video they might have. We have to rely on composite sketches. And so on.

I’ll post more of “The End of Crime” later. I recently found out that Florida currently has the highest per capita violent crime rate behind only Washington D.C. and Maryland. Yet while crime in Florida is going up, in more civilized areas of the country the crime rate is dropping dramatically. Violent crime and robbery is being replaced quickly by cyber crime. In the future, the only criminals will be highly intelligent and violent crime perpetrated by thugs with weapons will be a thing of the past.

Another responded by writing:

Have you lost your mind? What kind of humanistic technology worship is this? Christ alone sanctifies not GPS, or even the fear of getting caught. You had better take this down before someone reads it and copies it to use as evidence against you in the future. This is total lunacy!

I didn’t quite understand the part about people using this piece as “evidence against you in the future.” But that is no matter. I don’t think the first amendment is in immediate peril just yet.

The assumption here is that God cannot use technology to make people more law-abiding. Christ alone sanctifies, but one of the uses of the Law is to curb disobedience among the unconverted. We need technology to help us with law enforcement. To me it is not an either-or proposition.

A future installment of the article is going to deal with how we can use technology do away with jail for non-violent offenders. I agree totally with biblical law on this one in that people should be working to pay restitution. There should be no jail time for non-violent offenders. GPS is a cheap way of keeping track of people while they work to pay for their crime.

The flip side of this is that the same technology can be used by an oppressive government to invade the privacy of innocent people. Christians need to be aware of the advances and take steps to make forensic technology more of a volunteer phenomenon rather than an instrument of coercion.

The End of Crime (Part 2)

Global Positioning Systems

In the near future, nearly all cars and vehicles will have, in addition to GPS mapping, a system that will enable law enforcement to track the location of each vehicle in case of an emergency or a serious crime. This will prevent known criminals from fleeing in vehicles and will eliminate the danger of high-speed police chases. Suspects can be easily tracked and arrested once they reach a destination where it is safe for police apprehend them.

Now before the conspiracy buffs start crying about an invasion of personal rights and privacy by federal authorities, consider the fact that a GPS system in 2006 costs from less than $100 to over $2000 -- about the same price as a television. But only a few people have GPS in their car. It is strange that it is not more popular. There is no cost for the GPS service, which is provided free by the U.S. Government. The receiver itself is all you need. In the near future, it will become as standard as having a car radio and CD player.

GPS systems do not provide two-way communication at the moment. It’s not possible to track every GPS receiver currently, but such devices are being used by law enforcement in increasing quantities. Some judicial systems are using the technology with convicted sex offenders, juvenile offenders, and criminals under house arrest or parole. Current technology consists of a device the size of a pager, which must be worn by a convicted offender, an ankle bracelet and digital mapping software on the law enforcement side. The bracelet sends a signal to a nearby transmitter that will give the police the exact location of the individual at all times. Currently such units cost over $1000 a piece. However, as with all new technology, we can expect the price to plummet within a few years.

Soon it will become more convenient to slap a bracelet on a non-violent offender, let him work off his court costs and his victim’s restitution, while keeping him under house arrest. When this happens, just about all convicted non-violent criminals are going to be given the option of wearing a bracelet of some type – one that cannot be removed easily.

A lot of parents will begin to use this with their children. In fact, this is already being done with inexpensive GPS cell phones that work in lightly obstructed areas. GPS bracelets bring peace of mind to the parent of an autistic child who might wander off and not know where he is or be able to tell a stranger his home address. Many tragedies and kidnappings of young children will be avoided in the near future.

Likewise, people who own expensive and well-loved pets are buying GPS chips that are implanted under the animal’s skin. If the animal goes missing, the owner can know immediately where to find it. Implanted devices will soon be an option for people for safety reasons since bracelets and rings ought to be taken off near machinery and in certain athletic activities.

Numerous types of GPS devices will soon spread into the general population when people discover the safety that it will bring them. The elimination of crime will hopefully be a volunteer endeavor, but I can foresee a move to make it mandatory that every individual wear a GPS device of some type. We need to take the steps now to avoid that.

The End of Crime (Part 1)

The Brave New World of Forensic Technology

Within the next ten to twenty years, crime will be virtually non-existent in America. Advances in forensic technologies, including Global Positioning Systems (GPS), infrared photography, digital video systems, gene mapping, DNA analysis and nanotechnology will eliminate over 90 percent of murders, rapes, thefts, drug trafficking and other felonies.

The ability to create video recordings of every inch of public space will soon be available at a minimal cost. Private businesses and individuals will be the first to use this technology to protect themselves, their families and their property. Law enforcement will make use of records made by the public to solve almost every crime. There is a day coming when would be criminals may commit crimes but simply won’t be able to keep from getting caught. The message to criminals will simply be you can run but you can’t hide.

Forensic technology will even be useful in stopping crimes against the family realm of society. Marital infidelity, child abuse, juvenile delinquency, truancy, abortion and unwanted pregnancies will become rare.

This is good news for the majority of Americans. New technology now being developed by criminologists and forensic scientists is already being used in cases, especially among convicted sex offenders. Forensic technology can be used for evil as well as good. If technology is used by the government to spy on citizens, some will decry an impending violation of civil freedom. However, once the technology becomes affordable to the people, it will be used on a volunteer basis to prevent crime. Far from creating an Orwellian nightmare, this technology will be used by the general population to elevate the quality of life of the human race.

There is no denying the inevitable. It is not a question of if but when. Forensic technology is being developed and is arriving on the scene at an incredible pace. In fact, the technology to create crime free communities now exists. It is just a matter of the cost of implementing the first crime free zones. Once people understand the power of forensic technology and the amount of money and grief it will save them, they will gladly pay for the security of living in a crime free neighborhood. What was once a slogan, will become a reality.

How Not To Be Robbed

I was leaving an ATM machine at 7:54 pm in a well-lit bank parking lot when I looked to my left and saw a young guy with a gun pointed at me. To make a long story short, he wasn’t satisfied with the $20 I had in my wallet. (I never carry lots of cash if I can help it.) “I’ll %!&# shoot you, I swear, if you don’t withdraw all the money in your account,” he said calmly and deliberately. Not wanting to make my wife a widow, I didn’t argue except to tell him that there were cameras everywhere and that he was going to get caught. I told him that he wouldn’t shoot me for only $200. When I handed him the cash, I showed him my ATM receipt. “See? That’s all I have.” I lied, but he didn’t look carefully. He told me. “Stand there for five minutes and don’t move.” As soon as he disappeared, I called 911 on my cell phone, which I had left in my car.

I then had to spend an hour with the police in the parking lot. They brought in a helicopter with infrared sensors and a police dog. They were able to trace the fresh scent to a dumpster and the helicopter was able to tell them that there was a “hot spot” where a vehicle had just been. Fascinating. I also had to drive half way across to town to spend another hour with a composite artist and we produced the following.

I realize the danger in posting this, but hopefully this guy won’t spend a lot of time reading Blogs before he gets caught. And he will get caught eventually. There is a $5000 reward being offered in such cases. And he’s not that smart. He was in plain sight of cameras and his face was exposed. If it were me, I would have also asked for my victim’s wallet, cell phone and car keys, I would have been wearing gloves and I would have thrown them in the dumpster. That would have given him a few more minutes. I learned a lot from this. I thank God I was not shot and it only cost me $220 to take steps to avoid this happening in the future.

How not to be robbed

1. Avoid ATMs whenever possible. I was shocked at how easily I caved in upon the threat of being shot dead, but somehow $200 wasn’t worth it. Unless it is a crowded area with armed security in sight, or it is an emergency, make all your deposits during bank hours. I only went to make deposit a check, but from now on, I am not using ATMs to do this. Nowadays, you can use your debit card in convenient stores and supermarkets to withdraw cash when making a purchase. It’s no guarantee, but it is less likely that you’ll be robbed in a store than in a parking lot.

2. If you are alone, have a cell phone with you. Keeping this in the car was probably a good idea in my case, because if the thief wanted to steal it, I still had to unlock the car to get the cell phone. The police later asked me why I didn’t use my cell-phone camera to take a photo. I was amazed that they actually asked this. The guy had a gun, and he would have taken the camera and possibly shot me in the process.

3. Remain calm and cooperate. I’ll admit upon seeing a gun, my first thoughts were, “Is it a toy?” but upon being threatened I decided that no amount of money I could withdraw from an ATM is worth my life.

4. If you are being robbed at gunpoint take your time. Don’t move too fast or too slow. If the thief’s face is in view, make a good mental picture of what he looks like. Pay attention to the eyes, eyebrows, cheekbones, mouth, chin and facial hair. Try to remember it. I was surprised when the composite artist showed me mug shots of people who had been arrested next to drawings she had made. Some were almost perfect representations. These were all drawn just from composite books and the victim’s memory. It’s likely that the thief will think he’s clever and won’t be caught. If he keeps robbing people, eventually he will be caught. That composite photo is going to be invaluable to other people besides you.

How should we then live?

We live like we are never going to die. We don’t think about how violent our culture has become. We see it, but don’t think it could happen to us. It’s important to think out these scenarios. How can we be act to be safe? What is the right thing to do in every imaginable emergency?

Last week, there was a death in my wife’s family, I had to break up a fistfight between two sixteen-year-old students in my school, and today someone pointed a gun at me. Each in their own way, these emergencies were new experiences to me. It has made me think about things differently. I am asking the same question the disciples posed, “How should we then live?” (Luke 3:10; Ezekiel 33:10).