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May 18, 2018 / C H Thompson

Prevention and control of crime – revision notes with evaluative points

Surveillance is used to prevent and detect crime through

  • physical surveillance and
  • technological surveillance

Physical surveillance

  • includes CCTV cameras which are used by local authorities, shop-keepers as well as homeowners in order to deter crime
  • CCTV deters crime by recording events in real-time so criminals think there’s a good chance their actions will be recorded leading to their identification

Technological surveillance

  • involves the use of online technologies recording personal data from phone calls; texts; website visited as well as GPS location of cellphones
  • governments and the police use the above to detect criminal activity from terrorists to bank fraud

Foucault, 1991, sees the above types of surveillance as a form of disciplinary power.

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