Online Civility, Social Media, and the Future of Trust in Criminal Justice

 Living in the age of technology, social media has severely impacted how people interact and form relationships with one another as well as how they build their networks. Jim Rawson highlights two kinds of ties, strong and weak. Strong ties are close friends or family; they are people you have a strong trust with as well as deep emotional ties. Weak ties on the other hand are people such as acquaintances or online relationships. In the age of social media, weak ties are frequent as well as amplified through platforms such as X, or FaceBook. It shapes how people understand institutions, including the Criminal Justice System.

This directly connects to the Criminal Justice system. Because there is so much information and opinions online it severely impacts the CJ system; viral videos, user generated content and online commentary sway public perceptions of policing and courts are and are run. One singular recorded interaction can influence conversation nationwide. Conversations including accountability for those involved and the legitimacy of policing. Social media shifted the power dynamic; citizens now document as well as distribute information with one another, which forces institutions to respond in real time to threading issues/ implications. Though there are bad interaction videos out there there are also positive interactions. These positive interactions can do so much good; it can increase transparency, encourage accountability, humanize law enforcement officers, and promote constructive dialogue. When Police Departments use social media effectively the results show for themselves. They strengthen community trust, as well as relationships, and it helps when it comes to increased cooperation from the community. It also makes people feel safer coming to them to report crimes. 

Online discussions can spread a wide array of misinformation, increase distrust of institutions, and erode ties between communities and law enforcement. With the algorithms platforms have it can add to the outrage rather than balance the discussion, it just turns into straight hate. Trust is critical in Criminal Justice Institutions, witness cooperation, jury legitimacy, and community compliance all depend on it. At the rate we are going the future of Criminal Justice is going to need digital transparency, online engagement strategies, and promotion of online civility. Social Capital can grow if institutions actively participate in digital conversations. And if they decide to ignore online advancement narratives will form without accountability or clarification and god only knows what trouble and issues will come from that.


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