U.S. Cities Relying on Precog Software to Predict Murder
A precog in the film Minority Report who can see the future and predict events.
Photo courtesy of Dreamworks/20th Century Fox
New crime-prediction software currently being used in Maryland and Pennsylvania promises to reduce homicide rates by predicting which prison parolees are most likely to commit murder, therefore uncovering which should receive higher levels of supervision. University of Pennsylvania criminologist and creator of the algorithm, Richard Berk says the software replaces the ad hoc decision-making of parole officers and claims that it could identify eight out of 100 future murderers. The software analyzes two dozen variables to predict risks of future offending, but interestingly enough the most predictive variables were the type of crime and the age at which it was committed. People assume that if someone committed murder, then they will murder again, but what really matters is what that person did when they were young (Berk, Wired.com).
Date of Article: January 10th, 2013
[Abstract by Mark Lombard, ForensIQ Intern, January 14th, 2013]
Citation
Zetter, K. Wired.com . U.S. Cities Relying on Precog Software to Predict Murder. Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/precog-software-predicts-crime/
