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Technology Defines Future Crime

Technology Defines Future Crime

Welcome to the future.  It may have started as the movie Minority Report, but it should come as no surprise that an academic says he’s done it.  Richard Berk, a professor of criminology and statistics at the University of Pennsylvania has developed software to predict which defendants on probation are most likely to commit murder or be murdered. What an innovative piece of technology!

For example, “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?’ said Berk. It used to be that parole officers used the person’s criminal record, and their good judgment, to determine that level.

The software is already being used in Baltimore and Philadelphia, and a later version which Berk claims will predict other criminal behavior as well is ready for rollout in D,C.