A team of scientists is creating an algorithm capable of predicting which people are likely to commit crimes.
Some crimes are easy to predict before they actually happen. Like when I first heard the news that there was going to be a sequel to Full House.
But others, are a little more complicated. Often there is no way to apprehend criminals until after a crime is committed. While arresting people for loitering, before vandalism occurs, is a common practice; too often the crime happens before the police are called.
In an attempt to build a Utopian tomorrow, computers have been enlisted to analyze data and find the criminals before they’re actually criminals. From Bloomberg:
For two decades, police departments have used computers to identify times and places where crimes are more likely to occur, guiding the deployment of officers and detectives. Now they’re going another step: using vast data sets to identify individuals who are criminally inclined. They’re doing this with varying levels of transparency and scientific testing. A system called Beware, for example, is capable of rating citizens of Fresno, California, as posing a high, medium or low level of threat. (full story)
It’s the criminal justice version of targeted ads. Just like when you type “waterboard” into a facebook post, you’ll see an ad pop up for the Wisconsin Dells, someday downloading a hip-hop song might cause a cop to slowly drive by your house.
Back in his 1956 short story Minority Report Philip K. Dick predicted police would use similar technology to detect “pre-crimes”. It’s almost as if Dick had the ability to see the future; although if he did, he might have seen what Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg intended to do with his story in fifty years, and torn it to shreds.
I keep thinking about the vast tera-tera hard drives in Utah that were built by the NSA, supposedly to store phone data of potential terrorists. And yet, they still have to threaten Apple to get into a government issued phone of the San Bernardino terrorists. Without going to far into the land of Tin Foil: exactly what is the NSA collecting?
The “why” is pretty apparent. Already scientists are suggesting pre-crime technology could be useful in weighing whether criminals should be eligible for bail.
If magistrates used the methods we have developed and released only offenders forecasted not to be arrested for domestic violence within two years after an arraignment, as few as 10 percent might be arrested. The failure rate could be cut nearly in half. Over a typical 24-month period in the jurisdiction studied, well over 2,000 post-arraignment arrests for domestic violence perhaps could be averted. (link)
It’s only a matter of time before the right to due process is supplanted with”Innocent until proven likely”.
“Ruling masterminds”:
Demonstrating consistent motives since …the dawn of humanity.