The article titled “Crime Prediction Keeps Society Stuck in the Past” (linked below) which accurately displays the problematic issue with predictive technology. Reading about Robert McDaniel’s story really made me question the use of AI in situations like this, especially when people’s freedoms are at risk. The article states that predictive technology was used to identify McDaniel as a person of interest due to the simple fact that he lived in Austin, a neighbourhood that saw a lot of crimes in Chicago. The police then continued to keep a close watch on him, despite him not being in suspicion of any involvement in any crimes. Further, the article states that the technology predicted that McDaniel was more likely than 99.9% of Chicago’s population to be involved in a shooting, although whether he was going to be the victim/assailant was unknown. This really made me think about this in the perspective of Vancouver. The Downtown Eastside is known as an area in Vancouver where a lot of drug use occurs and violence towards and between homeless people occurs. It’s not necessary to use predictive technology to predict that the homeless population is much more vulnerable and susceptible to violence than other groups of people. Thus, picking one person in this group and keeping track of their every movement not only takes their freedom in a sense, but it also is a self-fulfilling prophecy. What the focus should be instead of predicting/guessing who will be the victim or perpetrator of a crime in certain areas, is to use those efforts and resources to help prevent crimes in the first place. To use Vancouver as an example, instead of trying to figure out who is going to be the victim/perpetrator of a crime, use those resources to help build safer living conditions for homeless people.
