Murder-predicting computers could tell who gets out of prison

The way things usually go is that is a parole board has to deliberate
over a convicted person's past crimes and their behavior to determine
if they are fit for release from prison. Now, a college professor says
that computers could fulfill this role with greater accuracy.













"This system can forecast which inmates will kill again," says
University of Pennsylvania professor Richard Berk. "With the help of
years of computer data, I can separate the really bad guys being
released from the people who probably won't re-offend."

His computer system is actually being used already in probation
departments in Philadelphia and Baltimore, though right now it's
flagging potential problematic convicts rather than deciding who should
stay and who should get released from prison.

The computers make decisions based on models that are built for each
criminal, taking in factors such as age, the nature of the crime and
other details such as the murder weapon used. The more information the
computers have, the better its chances of determining whether someone
would kill again as it matches that profile up against what is
statistically likely to happen historically.

Pre-Cogs, anyone? The trio of living computers from Minority Report, pictured above, were tasked with knowing when a crime would be committed while it was still a thought in someone's mind.

While that raises a bunch of ethical questions.

I'm sure it will be controversial similar to the "attained under torture" type of thing.