Timeless tensions: Reexploring ethical dilemmas in predictive public safety approaches

• In Event: Exploring Recent Trends in Policing and Social Control

Abstract

Integrated Offender Management (IOM) Units, established in many Canadian, British, and Australian law enforcement agencies, employ predictive analytics to help determine ‘prolific offenders’, or persons at risk of engaging in future crimes. Those identified are privy to focused surveillance and intervention strategies. While proponents highlight the potential for increased public safety and efficient resource allocation, critics express ethical concerns, particularly regarding potential biases against certain racial, ethnic, and socio-economic groups. The IOM approach seemingly aligns with the 1980s theory of selective incapacitation, which also focused on predicting high-risk offenders but often resulted in longer prison sentences. This approach sparked debates similar to those surrounding the use of predictive analytics in law enforcement. Through in-depth interviews with persons identified as ‘prolific offenders’, the following study documents important contextual nuances about the effects of predictive analytics by exploring the perceptions of those who are impacted (i.e., identified high risk persons) by contemporary predictive technologies.

Authors

• Kanika Samuels-Wortley, Ontario Tech University

• Kathryn Henne, Australian National University

• Scot Wortley, University of Toronto