2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Technology, Criminality and Law Enforcement in Pre-Crime Society
| Project/Area Number |
20K20691
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
MANTELLO Peter・A 立命館アジア太平洋大学, アジア太平洋学部, 教授 (10454977)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2020-07-30 – 2023-03-31
|
| Keywords | Terror / Predictive / Policing / Algorithm / Bias / Security / Computation / Big Data |
|---|
| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
I have managed to do a basic examination of the social, political, sectoral, temporal and ethical implications of predictive policing technologies on the post-hoc traditions of criminal justice through desktop analysis and some preliminary online interviews. Besides performing a comprehensive and extensive literature review, I have identified a diverse range of stakeholders in North America which includes scholars, predictive policing companies, law enforcement agencies, citizens and civil liberty & privacy groups. I have also completed two papers which are going to be submitted for publication. They investigate the impact of predictive policing technologies in North America on civil liberties. One of these two papers examines the rise in the collection of personal data of citizens that is non-law enforcement based rather than collection of socio-economic data as potential indicators of crime (not just historical data of criminals and past crimes). Now that travel bans and lockdowns are ending in Europe, Canada and the US, I intend to pursue things with much effort.
|
| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Because of the force majeure obstacles of COVID-19 such as travel bans, lock-downs and closure of institutions, the research progress was much slower than as originally conceived. However, in lieu of these obstacles I endeavoured to keep the project moving as best as possible. Namely, I performed a series of online interviews, attended online workshops, underwent a comprehensive literature review and performed extensive desktop analysis. However the quality of the online interviews and other research work-packages suffered because of the limitations posed by COVID-19 travel bans, lock-downs, state of emergency, cancellation of conferences and events.
|
| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
With the vaccination process in full swing in both Europe and importantly the US, I plan to move forward on all the work-packages that were initially designed to be implemented in 2020; namely face-to-face interviews and field research as well as archival visits and importantly, workshops in the United States of America, Canada as well as Europe. In order to do this, I will conduct desktop analysis, case studies as well as interviews in the US and Canada with legal scholars, policy-makers, criminologists, and security analysts. Moreover, I plan to visit the pre-crime industry, specifically, small start-ups such as Hunch Lab in Philadelphia, USA, as well as interview police officers and law enforcement spokespersons. I will hold three, one-day citizen-focused workshops in three North American cities in order to assess citizen’s attitudes, understanding and feelings towards predictive policing technologies. As a certain amount of play will be instructive, these workshops will incorporate the use of design fiction and creative-scenario based provocations.
|
| Causes of Carryover |
Because of the force majeure obstacles of COVID 19- such as travel bans, lock-downs and closure of institutions, the research progress was much slower than as originally conceived. With the vaccination process in full swing and the end to the travel bans and opening of the institutions in Europe, Canada and importantly the US, I plan to move quickly forward on ALL aspects of the various work-packages that were initially designed to be implemented in 2020; namely face-to-face interviews and field research as well as archival visits and importantly, workshops in both the United States of America, Canada and Europe.
|
