| Abstract [eng] |
This Master's thesis examines how the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in law enforcement institutions is reflected in Lithuanian mass media discourse and what aspects of social control emerge in this representation. The theoretical basis of the thesis is based on the approaches of three classical criminological theories: Foucault's concept of discipline and panoptic monitoring, Hirschi's theory of control of social relations, and Cohen's concept of net-widening. The empirical part of the study used a mixed methodological model: the quantitative analysis included 211 articles, and the qualitative analysis included 33 analytical texts published on the four largest Lithuanian news portals in the period 2020-2025. The study revealed the growing diffusion of IoT technologies and law enforcement discourse, especially after 2023, and the dominant link between this topic and the discourse on security, surveillance and privacy. It found that the introduction of IoT in law enforcement is often framed in the media as a technological inevitability, while intensifying the spectrum of forms of social control. The results allow us to see the integration of the IoT as an extended system of surveillance and control in which institutional conformity is maintained through automated decision-making and data-driven behavioural regulation. |
