Florida teams up with IBM to predict young offenders' behaviour
Software selects some young offenders for more monitoring
IBM sold the state of Florida's Department of Juvenile Justice on new predictive analysis software that will determine different courses of action for different young offenders. The goal is supposedly to better target juvenile criminals with suitable programs that will lower the chance that they will re-offend.
Instead of paying for staff to work directly with the youths to ascertain their potential needs, the data analysis program from IBM will crunch a bunch of numbers. Factors such as past record, who your social affiliations are, and what neighborhood you come from will all be crunch by IBM's software. So, for example, if you come from a particular low-income neighborhood where the crime rates are high, you would probably be subject to more thorough state rehabilitation than if you were from a wealthy neighborhood with lower crime rates, and had committed the same crime.
An IBM employee said: "Predictive analytics gives government organizations worldwide a highly-sophisticated and intelligent source to create safer communities by identifying, predicting, responding to and preventing criminal activities. It gives the criminal justice system the ability to draw upon the wealth of data available to detect patterns, make reliable projections and then take the appropriate action in real time to combat crime and protect citizens."
This method of predicting crime is somewhat reminiscent to noted science fiction author Philip K. Dick's story "Minority Report", where the government uses psychics to determine who will commit crimes, and arrests them before they do.
Due to state budget cuts, which will close some facilities that deal with juvenile delinquents (source), it appears Florida replace some of its rehabilitation services with IBM's software that will instead tell them which young offenders are more likely to offend again, through only sacrificing their individual rights and privacy.
With a little bit of luck the databases of information recorded on these juvenile offenders will never be subject to abuse by the government agencies who have access to it.
Source: Yahoo
Section: OS & Software

Latest Comments
- Oculus Rift secures additional $16 million in funding, one step closer to retail [9]
- Microsoft's One Mistake: Pressing reset on the Xbox One's aspirations of a digital future [19]
- Surprise! Company of Heroes 2 beta extended through June 23 [3]
- Microsoft officially canceling Xbox One online and used game policies across the board [59]
- The War Z becomes Infestation: Survivor Stories citing trademark conflicts, game otherwise unaffected [3]
- Super Smash Bros launching next year, Mega Man, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer confirmed as new brawlers [119]
- Deadpool's harem introduced, adds Rogue, Domino and Psylocke to the cast so he can call them hot [6]
- Nintendo wins appeal over Wii Fit Balance Board patent litigation, probably not over [5]
Most Comments
- PlayStation E3 live coverage teaser promises showcases of over 40 PS4, PS3 and PS Vita games [255]
- Nintendo Direct @ E3 2013 Live Blog: Will Mario steal Luigi's spotlight? [205]
- Xbox @ E3 2013 Live Blog: Xbox One, Dead Rising 3, Titanfall, the next Halo, and more [191]
- Super Smash Bros launching next year, Mega Man, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer confirmed as new brawlers [119]
- Ubisoft E3 2013 Live Blog: Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell & more [110]
- "The Download: EA 2013" Live Blog: Will Star Wars show up to EA's E3 2013 press conference? [107]
Latest News
- Wed, Jun 19
- The War Z becomes Infestation: Survivor Stories citing trademark conflicts, game otherwise unaffected
- Microsoft's One Mistake: Pressing reset on the Xbox One's aspirations of a digital future
- Surprise! Company of Heroes 2 beta extended through June 23
- Microsoft officially canceling Xbox One online and used game policies across the board
- Nintendo wins appeal over Wii Fit Balance Board patent litigation, probably not over
- Bethesda's VP of PR Pete Hines elaborates on the likely dismal situation with Prey 2
- The Bureau: XCOM Declassified's narrative-driven DLC detailed, game still two months away from launch
- Nintendo dives into free-to-play with new Steel Diver
- Ubisoft CEO says Rayman Legends Wii U delay was "right decision for gamers and for the team"
- Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number's teaser trailer recaptures the pixelated ultraviolence of the original
- Yoshinori Ono tweets image of Deep Down with his Blanka fig, says there's "steady progress"
- Tue, Jun 18
- EA's Frostbite 3 optimizations not exclusive to AMD after all, collaborating on day-one support for Battlefield 4
- First official look at The Sims 4 confirmed for gamescom, taking the stage August 21
- League of Legends Interview: How Riot is shaping the community with less bans, and more rewards
- The Division E3 2013 Impressions: Best bullet holes in glass technology in years
- What's different in New Super Luigi U? Luigi is green, also plenty else as shown in latest trailer
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 'Vengeance' map pack confirmed, launching July 2
- Deadpool's harem introduced, adds Rogue, Domino and Psylocke to the cast so he can call them hot
- Oculus Rift secures additional $16 million in funding, one step closer to retail
- Shadowrun Returns pushed to July 25 release date, citing polish and bugfixing
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Impressions: Bigger and better than ever, plus a horse
- Mon, Jun 17
- Forget booth babes, IndieCade breaks the norm with booth BROS to E3 2013
- Bayonetta 2 E3 2013 Hands-On: Fighting angelic centaurs on a jet fighter, enough said?
- CD Projekt RED opening 20-person studio in Krakow to work on smaller 20-hour game
- May NPD Number Crunch: Injustice holds the fort during another weak month for the industry
Latest Net Reviews
| · | Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3-2133 2x8GB Kit |
| · | Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 (German) |
| · | Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 |
| · | Intel Core i7-4770K |
| · | MSI GTX 770 N770 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC |
| · | OCZ Vertex 3.20 |