The U.K. is testing software to predict who could become a future murderer, though critics say the project relies on biased data.
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The Prime Minister's office in the UK is testing software to predict if someone will become a killer later in life
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Look at me. Positive for Howard Marks. I'm placing you under arrest for the future murder of Sarah Marks and Donald Duman
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It was take place today, April 22nd. It's 0800 hours and four minutes
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It's a modern-day version of the movie Minority Report, where technology is used to predict and arrest people before they commit murders
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Similar to the film, the Ministry of Justice is using the Homicide Prediction Project
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to gather police and government data to create profiles and assess risk
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now titled Sharing Data to Improve Risk Assessment. State Watch submitted a Freedom of Information request to get more details
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about the collaboration with police and the U.K.'s Division of Public Safety
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The government explains the pilot program reviews offender characteristics and assists in determining risk assessments for homicides
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The Ministry of Justice states it's for research and policy only not to be used
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within the court system. The program aims to answer three questions. Can data science improve
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predictions? How can local police data enhance accuracy in predicting serious violence? And can
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it help understand offender risk and promote more collaboration with local police? The documents
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reveal a data sharing agreement that released information on a range of people between 100 and 500 to create what they call a predictive tool The data includes information from cases involving victims witnesses missing persons
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suspects, and anyone flagged as a danger. The project also expands its system to include factors such as mental health, addiction, suicide
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disability, and vulnerability. All information dates back to before 2015, including demographic data like age, gender, and ethnicity
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Predictive models are already used within the UK. England and Wales use the offender assessment system to evaluate risk for individuals in custody and on probation within the community
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A Ministry of Justice study found that these algorithms were more accurate for white offenders and less effective for black and mixed ethnicity offenders
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State watch researchers argue that these tools are flawed because they rely on data from a system that is institutionally racist and biased against low-income communities
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They point to a 2023 government study that used statistical ysis to predict murder based on past offenses
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The study, which aimed to improve future predictions of serious re-offending, found ethnicity bias in these predictive tools
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UK officials say a report will be published to assess the effectiveness of the system for government use
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For Straight Arrow News, I'm Kayleigh Carey. Find more unbiased, fact-based news right now on the Straight Arrow News mobile app
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