UK Pursues 'Murder Prediction' Research, Raising Privacy Concerns

The Guardian reported The UK’s Ministry of Justice has been working on an algorithm aimed at identifying individuals who might turn into murderers. Originally known as the "homicide prediction project," this system utilizes information sourced from various UK law enforcement agencies, potentially encompassing details about victims, witnesses, and those under suspicion.

Civil liberty watchdog Statewatch discovered the program through Freedom of Information Act requests. Based on the documents acquired by the group, Statewatch claimed that the program developed its prediction tool based on police data about between 100,000 and 500,000 people. Different categories of information shared with the Ministry of Justice appeared to also cover sensitive topics such as mental health, addiction, suicide and disability.

"Time and again, research shows that algorithmic systems for ‘predicting’ crime are inherently flawed," Statewatch researcher Sofia Lyall said. "This latest model, which uses data from our institutionally racist police and Home Office, will reinforce and magnify the structural discrimination underpinning the criminal legal system."

"This project is being conducted for research purposes only. It has been designed using existing data held by HM Prison and Probation Service and police forces on convicted offenders to help us better understand the risk of people on probation going on to commit serious violence. A report will be published in due course," a representative from the MOJ told The Guardian .

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The connection between law enforcement and AI technologies has often been dubious. AI being used to create police reports (bad idea) to misusing programs like ShotSpotter (another bad idea) to implementing technology that presents privacy risks for residents (also a poor choice), historical evidence does not support the successful implementation of these technologies.