The movie Minority Report featured a world in which law enforcement could actually predict crimes that would take place in the future. Apparently the Pre-Crime unit is no longer fictional.
“New crime prediction software being rolled out in the nation’s capital should reduce not only the murder rate, but the rate of many other crimes as well.
Developed by Richard Berk, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, the software is already used in Baltimore and Philadelphia to predict which individuals on probation or parole are most likely to murder and to be murdered.
In his latest version, the one being implemented in D.C., Berk goes even further, identifying the individuals most likely to commit crimes other than murder.
If the software proves successful, it could influence sentencing recommendations and bail amounts.”
This is a very, VERY dumb idea and one I hope catches a lot of flack. We can’t even get the weather right.
I admit that there are some factors in a person’s life that can produce predictable outcomes (weight gain, depression, poverty, etc.) , but that is not always the case.
What happens when a local police department is not fulfilling their “quota” for getting criminals off of the street? What happens when too many resources are assigned to a person who simply changed his/her ways? Do you just say “Whoops”? Who is really behind the design, funding and implementation of this program? Should we be concerned? Yes.
