Forensic Advances in the past 70 years.

Our prisons are overcrowded and convicted criminals are being released back onto street after sering on fractions of the time sentenced by a judge or jury.

Is there more crime now than there was back in the 1950s when I left home to enter the military?  If you read the headlines, the police blotters, the police mug shots, you tend to think that there is much more crime now, in proportion to the population, than there was when I graduated from a small, rural school in West Texas in 1953..

I believe that we are indeed living in a time when there is more contempt for law, but at the same time technological advances, not only in forensic science, but other innovations, such as cell phones, low-cost camcorders and security cameras around one's house have shortened the odds of a criminal beating the system and having a long criminal career without an  arrest.  The Internet, the super highway of information, now provides us much more opportunities to learn about crime and criminals.  There are numerous data banks on the Internet that keep public records, arrests, civil actions such as divorces, and other data that are overwhelming if you compare the information we had available when I was in high school. Hiding one's dark side is much harder now than 70 years ago. Our lives are open books for whomever is interested in looking into your personal life's history. Computers have become the nemesis on anyone seeking privacy in his/her personal life. 

I was raised on a farm 18miles from the closest incorporated city.  We did not get electricity on our farm until I was about 5 years old.  We never had a telephone and our family did not get television until my senior year in high school.  I did not see a radio until I was about 5 years old. Looking back, I am aware of what all I missed in comparison to today's youth; indeed aware of  all the innovations that I presently enjoy in my home.  We have Direct TV, the Internet, cell phone and ine line telephone.

(To Be Continued).