Gang databases: Context and questions

Gang databases are just one of many species of criminal justice investigative and intelligence databases that the information technology revolution has made possible. The police and other investigative, prosecutorial, and correctional agencies record many types of information in an electronic form, which can be easily accessed by countless authorized users and then lawfully shared or unlawfully leaked. Once information is entered into an investigative or intelligence database, it can easily migrate to other public and private databases and, therefore, can become more difficult to purge or edit effectively. Mistakes might never be corrected. The label could last a lifetime. Here, Jacobs discusses the concept and use of law enforcement gang databases.