Law enforcement agencies in America are getting an “upgrade”: Minority Report style computer programs which are able to predict who is going to commit a crime before it happens.
There will be used algorithms and historical data sets to predict a crime before it occurs, and even where and when it will be committed, according to words of the professor from Pensylvania, Richard Berk.
Some agencies in Philadelphia and Baltimore have used a similar software in the past that predicted murder risks by past offenders, but the Pre-Crime upgrade will allow agencies in Washington DC to predict a wider assortment of crime types and could be rolled out nationwide if it has a success.
Richard Berk explained to ABC News, “When a person goes on probation or parole they are supervised by an officer. The question that officer has to answer is ‘what level of supervision do you provide?”
It is almost the same as in the movie Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise. In the movie they use genetically altered humans, known as “Pre Cogs”, who can see into the future and to stop crimes which are going to be committed.
The researchers say that’s it is going to be a success and promise that comparing to the standard murder rate in the US of 1 murderer of 100, the Pre-Crime advanced technologies will be able to identify 8 of 100.
Those who are identified by the software could be subject to tougher bail conditions, or closer supervision – something attacked by academics as tantamount to harassment.
In addition to Washington DC, other major cities including Boston, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago will also begin rolling out the software to their agencies as well.
Quite obviously, this concept has drawn much criticism, as on the surface it is a clear violation of the bill of rights and leads to more government supervision, critics say.
When will we start studying the cause of crime as opposed to studying the person that commits a crime. It is scandolous to study who might commit a crime among the minority groups in society, for this implies that you know the cause of crime and that you know rgar the cause of crime is directed at creating conditions within the society that causes minorities to commit of crime.