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SIGNIFICANCE OF NEW MEDIA IN THE WAR AGAINST CRIME

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Significance of New Media in the War Against Crime
From time immemorial, the media has played a significant role in keeping the public
aware of the happenings within and without their surroundings. However, the inception of the
New Media has made a whole new difference in offering timely, efficient and reliable news that
has helped combat numerous vices in society such as; homicides, sexual exploitation, burglary,
human abduction, and trafficking many other crimes. New Media came to the fore during the last
phase of the 20th Century to skirt the coalescence of the traditional media that included; written
word, images, film, music, and close relation to the heavy influence of computers as the
communicative technology, and the internet. With the advanced technology, and the internet age,
mobile devices, computers, social networking, skyping, to mention but a few, have increased
diverse networks with which the New Media can use as the channels of communication. This
paper seeks to explain the significance of adopting and amalgamating the new media by relevant
stakeholders such as the government. The homogenization of the New Media with investigative
and probing divisions will primarily aid in de-escalating crime and crime rates in major towns,
cities, and the country at large.
Han and Lin contend that the use of the New media in tracing and arraigning kidnappers
and child abductors has been largely successful through computers and computer technologies.
In 2016, about 25 thousand people were abducted worldwide, and a whopping 30% of them were
children. Kidnapping, human trafficking and sale of children is strongly prohibited by most
nations, as is it a gross violation of the children’s rights.1 The main reason as to why children are
kidnapped and sold to potential buyers include; exploiting them for their labor, illegal adoption,
sexually exploiting them, coerced begging, and even in the conducting of criminal activities such

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Han, Ling. "New Technologies in Combating Child Trafficking in China: Opportunities and Challenges for
Children’s Rights." Peace Human Rights Governance, 3.3 (2019).

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as transporting drugs and illegal weapons as they are less likely to be stopped by the police. The
new media has, therefore, played an integral role in curbing the vice. The mobile devices are
being used to impede the perennial cases of child abduction and kidnapping. In China, for
instance, the use of the online platform, the Chinese Child Abduction Emergency Alert Platform,
and the police having a mobile application and the recent incorporation of the facial recognition
mechanics that have helped tackle the menace. As such, these examples of the new media have
enhanced the flattening of the curve.
Similarly, some scholars believed that using online data improves research on children’s
maltreatment and, consequently, ensures their well-being, asserts Schwab-Reese 688. 2Equally
important, social media, the media, and the internet have been extensively used to raise public
awareness and int...