It’s obvious that technology has come a long way. One interesting example of this can be seen in the the field of criminology. With data-driven policing and new revolutionary forecasting systems, police are already able to predict crimes at certain locations and times. For example, by 2003, the police in Richmond,VA were able to anticipate the time, location, and the nature of incidents in their area. From then, there has been a 47% decrease in random gun fires and an increase of 246% in seized weapons.
While these trends definitely provide an optimistic view of things to come, one can’t help but look at the possible negative effects as well. This graphic by Criminology.com raises a good question: can we punish individuals before they actually commit a crime? The movie “Minority Report” is a great portrayal of this, and while we’re certainly not at that level of crime prediction, I think it’s way too soon to say that it’s entirely impossible…
Check out the rest of the graphic to see the new frontier of criminology and what it might mean for the future of our society:
Created by: Criminology
