By Yiannis Haniotakis

Reactions and many discussions have caused the UK to reveal that the government is developing a controversial aimed at ‘prediction of violent crimes“, Through the analysis of personal data of people who are already known to the authorities.

As stated in a Guardian report, the program, originally called “Homicide prediction project “and now bears the title” Sharing Data to Improve Risk Evaluation “it is still in a research stage, but it has already raised severe concern with human rights organizations.

Researchers are alleged to use algorithm to analyze the information of thousands of people, including victimsas they try to identify those who run through the greater risk to commit serious violent offenses. The information analyzed includes: names, birth dates, gender, nationality, convictions, but also “health indicators” that are considered to have predictive power – such as mental health, addiction, self -injury and vulnerability.

The Ministry of Justice hopes the project will help to boost public security, the Guardian notes, but many reacts as “as”creepy and dystopian“

The organization Statewatchwhich made the disclosure, complains that the program may also include data from people who have never been convicted of a criminal offense, but have been victims of crimes or simply had contact with the police.

Statewatch researcher Sofia Lyall described the project as “creepy and dystopian”, warning that such systems “They support pre -existing prejudices, especially at the expense of minorities and low incomes. ”

“Many times, research shows that algorithmic systems for ‘predicting’ crime is inherently defective‘, supports features by adding: “Like other systems of its kind, it will codify with prejudice to racial and low -income communities. Creating an automated tool for promoting people as violent criminals is deeply wrong. “

The Ministry of Justice defends the workarguing that this is a purely research initiative, based only on the data of people with at least one criminal conviction. A representative stated: “The project is designed to help us better understand the risk of serious violence from surveillance. It will be examined whether the addition of data from the police can improve risk assessment. The findings will be published in due time. “