The Ethics of Predictive Policing

Abstract

Predictive policing using complex algorithms is on the rise. It involves the use of data-analysis tools and empirical research to formulate and validate predictions. In this chapter, the authors focus on two kinds of ethical issue this raises. The first is the way that such algorithms can absorb and then amplify existing biases and prejudices. The second is the way that predictive policing can lead to improper restrictions of liberty, overriding our norms concerning the need for individualized suspicion and respect for autonomy. Neither is a necessary consequence of predictive policing. Nonetheless, there are good reasons to institute ways to counteract these effects in a proactive way.