L04 Predictive Policing

Question 1

Through a personal lens, what is this technology about?

Answer 1

“Applied through purely a personal lens, the use of this technology is more about how it seems to be used as a prop to confirm existing suspicion and less about its use of arbitrary corollaries between past and future events and. US history is littered with racial disparity in the justice system post-emancipation

Question 2

Four pillars of punishment:

Answer 2

(1) retribution
Retributive punishment intends to rebalance the suffering incurred by the victim or society by causing suffering in the offender in order to provide perceptual equilibrium.

(2) deterrence,
Deterrence is a preventative measure in which the threat of punishment is enough of a disincentive for criminal activity.

(3) rehabilitation,
Rehabilitation is a reformative measure wherein an offender’s behavior changes to prevent further infraction.

(4) and incapacitation
Incapacitation is a macro mechanism where the offender is no longer able to commit further offense as a protection of society at the expense of the offender’s rights/abilities/life

Question 3

Conclusions

Answer 3

“At this stage, the entire field is inconclusive, but it is clear that there are new ways to reduce crime that are not necessarily based on traditional policing models. Utilizing tools in innovative ways is important to develop and evolve past the social barriers that have become institutionalized. Predictive policing is an extension of existing tools that our brains naturally adhere to in pattern recognition. However, the danger of using a new tool that is not well understood, does not develop past existing social problems, and reinforces embedded negative stereotypes rather than pushing past them, is a strong indicator that we as a society are using it the wrong way. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” (pdf)