Lyria Bennett Moses, Professor Law, UNSW

Predictive Policing and the Role of Ethics and Standards

Abstract

Predictive policing — the use of data, combined with predictive models to estimate the risks of crime in specific locations and times — has raised hopes as well as strengthened the rhetoric of using technology for crime control. The apparently enthusiastic uptake of predictive policing software in the US and elsewhere, together with the hype of “Big Data”, has created a new orthodoxy that technology can make policing “smarter” and “information-based” rather than subject to human bias and occupational habits. This talk will introduce predictive policing (and some of its methods), briefly explore its history of use in the US and elsewhere, discuss some of the factors that frequently lead to enthusiastic adoption but poor implementation, link this to questions of “ethics” particularly for professionals working in this space, and finally discuss some of the work being done in IEEE and ISO/IEC JTC1 SC42 on standards to control for unfair bias.

Bio

Lyria is the Director of the Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation as well as a Professor in the Faculty of Law at UNSW, Sydney. Lyria’s research explores issues surrounding the relationship between technology and law, including the different types of legal issues that arise as technology changes, how these issues are addressed in Australia and other jurisdictions, and the problems of treating “technology” as an object of regulation. Recently, she has been working on legal issues associated with the use of artificial intelligence, the appropriate legal framework for enhancing cyber security (working with the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre), and oversight for law enforcement intelligence (Canadian SSHRC partnership grant). Lyria is a member of the editorial boards for Technology and Regulation, Law, Technology and Humans and Law in Context. She is on the Executive Committee of the Australian Chapter of the IEEE’s Society for the Social Implications of Technology and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.