Surveillance and Society: Criminal Justice Assignment

This assignment explores the concepts of surveillance within the context of criminal justice, drawing from Gary T. Marx's "Windows into the Soul." The student identifies and discusses three key ideas: the evolving nature of surveillance in the age of technology, the impact of these advancements on societal security, and the ethical implications of surveillance practices. The assignment defines surveillance, contrasts traditional and modern forms, and examines how technological progress has increased data collection and monitoring capabilities. It analyzes the effects of enhanced surveillance technologies on societal security and privacy, highlighting the potential for misuse and the importance of ethical considerations. The student reflects on how the reading has challenged their thinking, particularly concerning the balance between security and individual rights, emphasizing the need for careful management of surveillance data to prevent privacy infringements and misuse.

Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE/SOCLOGE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/SOCLOGE
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE/SOCLOGE
Three Ideas/Concepts:
There are certain concepts that has been identified from the book “Windows into the
Soul” by Gary. T. Marx, they are discussed in this section.
Surveillance means the monitoring of activities or behaviour for managing or directing. It
can be of anything or can be done on anybody. Previously the surveillance was performed on the
people who were suspected for some criminal activities. Now a day’s surveillance is performed
over everybody by the means of technology. Technological advancements have given various
opportunity and media to track people. The traditional definition of surveillance is no longer in
action. The traditional definition of surveillance says that the close observation has to be kept on
a person or the group of people not on the machines. But the modern surveillance theory says
that the thorough scrutiny of all the devices and data of any suspect or any person can be done on
demand (pg. 47, Windows into the Soul Surveillance and Society in an Age of High Technology,
Gary T. Marx).
The time interval between the action to be taken and the information received is very
less. The action in the modern surveillance is automatic. The new forms of the surveillance is
cheaper than the traditional forms. It is easy to collect the auditory, textual, numerical and visual
data from the modern surveillance medium, which was very expensive to collect form the
traditional medium. The comparison of the data is easier in this form as everything is stored and
accounted for.
The modern surveillance system is more intensive, extensive and comprehensive in
nature. The information collected in the modern system is much more in comparison to the
traditional system. What a surveillance system knows about the individual is much more now a

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE/SOCLOGE
days’ than the individual himself or herself. Which is beneficial for the detecting unethical
activities but also hampers privacy in many sector.
Impact on Thinking:
With the enhancement of the surveillance technologies, the security system of the society
has increased exponentially. The technological advancements have led to the control of the data
and activities of the people on the regular basis to be recorded on the surveillance network. This
is also a thing to worry about as the risk of privacy hamper looms at large. This may get out of
control at certain point when the surveillance material gets out of hands of the security
department. The features of the highly secured society are the society where computer plays the
major role in documentation and monitoring; an actuarial society where the decisions are given
over predictions of happenings in the future; a society which is suspicious in nature and every
one is a suspect; an engineered society where the social and the physical environment determines
the choices; a transparent society or rather overly transparent society where there is hardly any
confidentiality maintained and lastly the society is self-monitored as everything is done
automatically (pg. 100, Windows into the Soul Surveillance and Society in an Age of High
Technology, Gary T. Marx) .
Implementation of the auto generated surveillance system might be much secured for the
society but there are certain ethical issues that cannot be avoided. The human has a right to
privacy. If continuously people are under surveillance, their privacy is hampered. Over
implementation of the surveillance system and monitoring all the data is good until they are
exposed to the people with wrong intention. The risk of the misuse of the data remains in the
society which cannot be unseen.