When it comes to criminal defense, technology is changing the game. There have now been cases of technology being used to prove a person’s whereabouts, and even what they were doing at the time of the alleged crime.
For example, recently, a woman in another state claimed that she had gone to bed around midnight when an unknown attacker forced his way into the home and raped her. Her story seemed completely plausible until the authorities used her Fitbit to determine that she was not sleeping at the time she said she was, and that the activity on the device showed she was awake, right up until she made the call to police about the alleged rape.
What Wearable Technology Can Show
For anyone who has been accused of a crime, a good criminal defense is extremely important. People can be falsely accused, and that can lead to jail time, fines, and lives that are effectively ruined, even though they did not actually participate in any wrongdoing. Now, wearable technology can be used in a number of different cases as a way to reduce the chances of false accusations. People who are accused have more chances to prove where they were and what they were doing at the time of the crime. Additionally, as in the Pennsylvania story, there are a number of new ways to prove whether the person who made the accusation was telling the truth or fabricating a story.
How Wearables Are Changing the Game
It’s clear that wearable technology is something that can change things for police, defendants, and those who say they have been the victim of a crime. Not all cases will have this type of technology involved, but as more people use Fitbits and other devices to track their health there will be greater opportunity to use this kind of device to see where they were and exactly what they were doing. In some cases it may be what proves the innocence of an accused person. In other cases it can show that a victim is not really a victim at all.
Both are valuable, and may reduce the number of wrongly convicted individuals and the number of false police reports filed. If you have been accused of a crime, working with your attorney to determine if wearable technology could play a role in your case may make a difference.