And indepth look at the trial of Kevin Mitnick. Fully cited. References included.

Essay by ryan_abeUniversity, Master'sA, April 2004

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The standard for pretrial release as stated by the American Bar Association recommends that "the law favors the release of defendants pending determination of guilt or innocence. Deprivation of liberty pending trial is harsh and oppressive in that it subjects persons who's guilt has not yet been judicially established to economic and psychological hardship, and interferes with their ability to defend themselves" (American Bar Association, 1968, p9). A period of 49 months prior to trial would most certainly be considered harsh and oppressive, denying various liberties provided to us such as the right to bail and a speedy trial. This was the case in the United States v. Kevin David Mitnick. Following a violation of probation conditions, Kevin Mitnick was arrested and indicted on several counts of computer fraud. He was held in custody for nearly four years while awaiting trial. During this time he was not only denied bail, but he was also denied of the entire bail hearing process and was forced to spend time in prison for computer related crimes that he had yet to be convicted of.

COMPUTER CRIMES

Computer crimes have emerged into its own field of the Criminal Justice System largely in part to the vast technological advancements in today's society. The United States Department of Justice defines computer crime as "any violations of criminal law that involve knowledge of computer technology"; this includes computers, networks, telecommunications, and other technological devices (Hatcher, McDannel, & Ostfeld, 1999). The act of committing computer crimes is commonly referred to as hacking. This can include breaking into public, private, and government computers and computer systems; data theft and mischief; software piracy and copyright; identify theft and fraud (Hatcher et al, 1999).

MITNICK'S CRIMINAL BACKGROUND

Since Mitnick was 17 years old he "had been in and out of...