Abstract
The present chapter aims at depicting the role of geolocation techniques in the criminal justice system. Geolocation is intended as the process of attaching a specific location, through the use of geographic references, to an object or a subject. The chapter analyses the developments in geographic information and technology, from Geographic Information Systems to Global Navigation Satellite Systems, before tackling their current and potential role both in crime detection and in crime prevention.
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Notes
- 1.
Reichenbach (1958), p. 109 ff.
- 2.
Environmental Criminology was first born out of a groundbreaking suggestion by Jeffery (1971), suggesting that crime prevention could be enhanced by improving the tactical design of the built environment (e.g. better lighting or natural visibility in parks or public streets) in which the daily lives of society members unfold. Such tactical design, based on statistical evidence and data, would cause a decrease both in crime rates and in societal fear of crime. This theory was named “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design” (CPTED).
- 3.
The legal doctrine literature in this field has extensively developed in the last decade, both in Europe and in the United States. See e.g. Vervaele (2014).
- 4.
- 5.
Longley et al. (2015), pp. 11–13.
- 6.
- 7.
Kahlaoui (2018), pp. 50–64.
- 8.
- 9.
The most famous instance of blanket street-view-image capturing for business purposes is Google Street View: Anguelov et al. (2010), p. 32 ff.
- 10.
The most recent figures and developments are recollected by Zhang (2021).
- 11.
Williams (2020), p. 54 ff.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
See: ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/gisco.
- 15.
See: www.bkg.bund.de.
- 16.
- 17.
Burrough (1986), p. 16.
- 18.
Longley et al. (2015), pp. 31–32.
- 19.
Yang et al. (2011), p. 3875 ff.
- 20.
Robins et al. (2003), p. 137 ff.
- 21.
Levine (2006), p. 41 ff.
- 22.
Albert and Reginald (1999), p. 7 ff.
- 23.
Biron et al. (2019), p. 1263 ff.
- 24.
The technique is explained extensively by its creator in Caplan and Kennedy (2010).
- 25.
Dong and Chen (2017), p. 19 ff.
- 26.
Ceruzzi (2018), pp. 105–122.
- 27.
Ibidem, pp. 157–172.
- 28.
- 29.
Kumar et al. (2021) p. 3 ff.
- 30.
Faqir (2013), p. 433 ff.
- 31.
Roxin et al. (2007), pp. 1–9.
- 32.
Ibidem.
- 33.
González-Cabañas et al. (2021), p. 1093 ff.
- 34.
E.g. Dhingra (2019).
- 35.
See, for official US data in 2008: bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/Publications/Vera-CrimeAnalysts.pdf.
- 36.
Elmes et al. (2014), pp. 19–38.
- 37.
See the U.S. Office of Justice Programs’ website: www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/178919.pdf.
- 38.
Baraka and Murimi (2019), p. 36 ff.
- 39.
Early instances of such applications are collected in La Vigne and Wartell (1998), vol 1, pp. 3–14.
- 40.
U.S. Constitution, IV Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
- 41.
Schlesinger (1977), p. 50 ff.
- 42.
Taslitz (2009), p. 2 ff.
- 43.
LaFave (2020), vol 2, pp. 3–24.
- 44.
U.S. Supreme Court, Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967). Wilkins (1987), p. 1087 ff.
- 45.
Kerr (2009), p. 561 ff.
- 46.
- 47.
U.S. Supreme Court, Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. (2018). Wilson (2021), p. 155 ff.
- 48.
See especially the concurring opinion of U.S. Supreme Court’s Justice Sonia Sotomayor, to the decision in the case known as United States v. Jones, 565 US (2012). Kerr (2012), p. 312 ff.
- 49.
Griffin and Miller 2008 p. 159 ff.
- 50.
Wolfson and Lease (2011), pp. 1–10.
- 51.
McKenna et al. (2018), p. 591 ff.
- 52.
U.S. Supreme Court, Dow Chemical Co. v. United States, 106 S. Ct. 1819 (1986).
- 53.
U.S. Supreme Court, Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001).
- 54.
U.S. Court of Appeals, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle v. Baltimore Police Department, 456 F. Supp. 3d at 702–03 (4. Cir 2020), reheard en banc 2 F.4th 330 (fourth Cir. 2021). Ferguson (2021); Wilson (2021), p 155 ff. However, its principle was declined to extend by a Pennsylvania District Court in United States v. Bowers, W.D.Pa., October 11, 2021, 548 F.Supp.3d 504.
- 55.
ECtHR, Uzun v Germany, Judgment of 2 September 2010, Appl no 35623/05.
- 56.
E.g. Bu-Pasha et al. (2016), p. 312 ff.
- 57.
- 58.
Cavallaro et al. (2020), p. 8 ff.
- 59.
- 60.
Panneck (2019), p. 511 ff.
- 61.
Holson (2018).
- 62.
Saviano and Tondo (2021).
- 63.
King (2019).
- 64.
Goldberg and MacPhail (2006), pp. 286–294.
- 65.
Lockwood and Masters (2021), p 1770 ff.
- 66.
Barone et al. (2021), p. 2 ff.
- 67.
See e.g. the U.S. government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology website: www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2020/03/spotlight-navigating-first-responders-through-unfamiliar-spaces-laser-light.
- 68.
McFadden (2017).
- 69.
The video of the reconstruction is available online at: forensic-architecture.org/investigation/beirut-port-explosion.
- 70.
Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923); Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993).
- 71.
Italian Court of Cassation, third section, 19 October 2017, n. 48178, with a comment by La Selva (2018).
- 72.
Nobles (2010), pp. 205–220.
- 73.
Wang (2012), p. 159.
- 74.
Chainey and Ratcliffe (2005), pp. 1–11.
- 75.
Jeffery (1971), p. 498 ff. See supra, fn 2.
- 76.
Supra, fn 15.
- 77.
All cases collected by La Vigne and Wartell (1998), Vol 2.
- 78.
Chaturvedi (2019).
- 79.
Bard (2016), p. 731 ff.
- 80.
Viswanath and Basu (2015), p. 45 ff.
- 81.
Rosner (2017), pp. 25–44.
- 82.
Weisburd et al. (2009), pp. 3–31.
- 83.
The software was available online within the U.S. borders at compstat.nypdonline.org.
- 84.
For the “Million dollar blocks” project by Columbia’s Spatial Information Design lab see: c4sr.columbia.edu/projects/million-dollar-blocks. Kurgan and Cadora (2006).
- 85.
Rodriguez Garzon et al. (2019), pp. 1184–1187.
- 86.
It. Law Decree 341/2000.
- 87.
Amato (2019), pp. 64–65. Recent Italian cases where the use of this new legislative tool was publicly made known can be found in Parma, Venice, Catania.
- 88.
Troshynski (2017), p. 103 ff.
- 89.
The term was coined in Garapon and Lassègue (2018).
- 90.
Heikkilä (2021).
- 91.
As explained in Benjamin (2019).
- 92.
CBS News (2018).
- 93.
- 94.
Quattrocolo (2020), p. 44 ff.
- 95.
Since Jeffery (1971), on which see supra fn 2.
- 96.
Gless (2020), p. 195 ff.
- 97.
See, for a wide recollection of the issues linked to potential machine biases and algorithmic justice, Završnik (2021), p. 623 ff.
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Militello, E. (2022). Geolocation in Crime Detection and Prevention. In: Bachmaier Winter, L., Ruggeri, S. (eds) Investigating and Preventing Crime in the Digital Era. Legal Studies in International, European and Comparative Criminal Law, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13952-9_2
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