While some people argue that technological advancements help reduce the number of criminal activities, others opine that it actually increases the crime rate. Personally, I side with the former as progress in technology has had a positive impact on the world’s crime scene.
On the one hand, developments in technology have paved the way for an emerging kind of crime: cyber-crime. As most transactions nowadays are done via the Internet, thieves can hack into one’s account and tamper with online transactions, sending the money to his bank account instead of that of the actual recipient of the payment. A milder case would be information thievery, in which one’s personal information would be stolen and sold to a third party, who, in a positive case, are advertising companies, or to catfishes, in the worst case scenario. For example, a number of frauds in Vietnam happened to middle-aged women, who were swindled out of millions by imposters acting as their children or relatives online.
On the other hand, technological advancements have helped solve cases faster and prevent criminal activities. First, high-tech gears and programs can help detect offenders effectively and in a timely manner. To illustrate, a 35-year-old cold case in Texas has just been solved using DNA technology. The 1986 murder was thought to be hopeless as no visible evidences were found, yet innovations in crime science has brought new and concrete proofs. Another use of technological developments is to prevent crimes. What this means is that through the use of technology, crime attempts can be deterred. For example, released convicts will usually be forced to wear a GPS tracking device. Thanks to this, many criminals have abandoned their recidivism plan as they could be easily sent back to jail.
To conclude, although there are sound arguments as to why technology developments can facilitate crimes, I believe that, in reality, it can help avert criminal activities.