scholarly journals Digital Policing Tools as Social Control Technologies: Data-driven Predictive Algorithms, Automated Facial Recognition Surveillance, and Law Enforcement Biometrics

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (0) ◽  
pp. 74
2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Kienscherf

This article argues that US policing ends up maintaining and reinforcing substantive intersecting racial and class divisions, precisely because of its avowed formal neutrality. The article is divided into two main sections. The first section sets up a theoretical apparatus for conceptualising the seeming contradiction between general and specific social control. This section argues that US policing has a colonial genealogy but now serves to reproduce a neo-colonial order characterised by both formal legal equality and substantive racial and class inequalities. Moreover, this section shows that the transition from a colonial to a neo-colonial order has been effected by a change in policing’s strategic focus from classical colonial pacification to liberal pacification, which combines coercion with developmentalism. Through a genealogy of US policing, the second section will demonstrate empirically how US policing’s shift towards a strategy of liberal pacification has enabled and continues to facilitate the (re)production of a neo-colonial social order. Since this genealogical section covers quite a long historical period, it will primarily draw on secondary sources. By developing a more nuanced and finely grained policing-as-pacification model that highlights both the colonial genealogy and the contemporary neo-colonial ontology of US policing, this article helps us better understand how and why formally neutral law enforcement ends up producing and reproducing racial and class divisions.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Miró Llinares

The use of predictive AI tools to improve decision-making in relation to crime prevention and investigation is a reality. They are being implemented almost before we fully understand how they work, while we make relevant legal decisions that may determine the progress of the technology, and long before we can predict their full impact. This paper addresses the attitudes towards this technological revolution applied to criminal justice, focusing in particular on its use by police. The first section summarises and describes the techniques and technologies that make up predictive policing. Subsequently, the main part of the study analyses the attitudes with which this technology has been received. These range from the optimism of those who defend its immediate implementation as a way to improve police objectivity and efficiency, to the pessimism of those who see its use as strengthening a dystopia of state control and surveillance. Two apparent extremes that correspond to the transition from optimism to technological pessimism of the twentieth century. The article concludes with a defence of a realistic, critical and informed view of the use of these predictive algorithms. A vision that, on the one hand, accepts that there are no neutral technologies, yet does not fall into fatalism and technophobia; and, on the other hand, places the human being and the legitimate police function at the centre of the algorithmic equation while redefining its objectives based on the scientific evidence applied to each individual technology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-389
Author(s):  
Isadora Neroni Rezende

Since 2019, over 600 law enforcement agencies across the United States have started using a groundbreaking facial recognition app designed by Clearview AI, a tech start-up which now plans to market its technology also in Europe. While the Clearview app is an expression of the wider phenomenon of the repurposing of privately held data in the law enforcement context, its use in criminal proceedings is likely to encroach on individuals’ rights in unprecedented ways. Indeed, the Clearview app goes far beyond traditional facial recognition tools. If these have been historically limited to matching government-stored images, Clearview now combines its technology with a database of over three billion images published on the Internet. Against this background, this article will review the use of this new investigative tool in light of the European Union (EU) legal framework on privacy and data protection. The proposed assessment will proceed as follows. Firstly, it will briefly assess the lawfulness of Clearview AI’s data scraping practices under the General Data Protection Regulation. Secondly, it will discuss the transfer of scraped data from the company to EU law enforcement agencies under the regime of the Directive 2016/680/EU (the Directive). Finally, it will analyse the compliance of the Clearview app with art 10 of the Police Directive, which lays down the criteria for lawful processing of biometric data. More specifically, this last analysis will focus on the strict necessity test, as defined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights. Following this assessment, it will be argued that the Clearview app’s use in criminal proceedings is highly problematic in light of the EU legislation on privacy and data protection.


Author(s):  
Barrie Gordon

The use of automated facial recognition in law enforcement is still a novel practice and as a result the legislative framework for this technology is ill-defined. The judgement of The Queen (on application of Edward Bridges) v The Chief Constable of South Wales Police [2020] EWCA Civ 1058 is the first case in the world that examines pertinent legal questions pertaining to this new technology. Automatic facial recognition may be used in law enforcement, but to prevent massive human rights violations, operators should perform their duties within a well-defined legal framework where discretion is kept to the minimum, and strict data-retention policies are followed. Furthermore, human oversight should always be part of an automated facial recognition system to ensure accuracy, fairness, and compliance with the law.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-23
Author(s):  
Hardianto Djanggih ◽  
Nurul Qamar

Artikel ini membahas masalah penanggulangan kejahatan siber (cyber crime) melalui pendekatan teori-teori kriminologi. Hal tersebut penting untuk memahami kejahatan siber dari segi karakteristik kejahatan dan penjahat. Metode penelitian yang digunakan yakni metode penelitian yang bersifat yuridis-empiris. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat empat teori yang dapat digunakan menganalisis kejahatan siber (cyber crime), yaitu anomi, asosiasi diferensial, kontrol sosial, dan netralisasi. Teori tersebut dapat digunakan sebagai strategi pencegahan dan penindakan kejahatan siber (cyber crime) sebagai kejahatan yang dihasilkan melalui interaksi anggota mayarakat memerlukan penanganan serius baik oleh masyarakat, penegak hukum dan perumusan perundangan-undangan. Agar kebijakan memerangi kejahatan siber (cyber crime) tepat guna dan berhasil guna, maka para pihak perlu memperhatikan hasil kajian cyber crime dari perspektif kriminologi.This article discusses the problem of cyber crime through the approach of criminology theories. It is important to understand cyber crime in terms of the characteristics of crime and criminals. The research method used is research method that is juridical-empirical. The results show that there are four theories that can be used to analyze cyber crime, namely anomy, differential association, social control, and neutralization. The theory can be used as a cyber crime prevention and crime prevention strategy as a crime generated through the interaction of members of the community requires serious handling by the community, law enforcement and the formulation of legislation. In order for the policy to combat cyber crime to be effective and effective, the parties need to pay attention to the results of the cyber crime study from the perspective of criminology.


Author(s):  
Erianjoni, M.Si ◽  
Dedi Hermon

The problem of Street crimes has become an urgent problem in Padang City in the last 2 years, it was recorded that in 2019 there were 1116 cases and 31 cases during January 2020. referring to this data that Padang City, West Sumatra Province is an unsafe city for its citizens both during the day and at night. In reality, a solution is needed to suppress these crimes through a system or appropriate preventive social control mechanism, so that it does not rely on police actions that tend to be coercive or repressive, so that it will not solve the problem. This research was conducted with qualitative research with the type of case studies in Padang City, data collection using questionnaires, in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation study, data were analyzed using interactive analysis models, also using the Integrated System Model (ISM). The research results showed that the form of Street crimes was carried out individually and in groups, the causes of Street crimes occurred due to internal and external factors, and the policy of Street crimes social control policies, i.e the making of policies and regulations, then the effectiveness of social control, increased public participation, consistency in law enforcement, and social education for unemployed youth has become a more important policy than any other policy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 687-694
Author(s):  
Kartono Kartono

AbstractThe trend of the spread of Coronavirus (Covid)-19 which continues to soar has an impact on society for health, peace and safety of the soul.  Public awareness and compliance with laws and regulations and the government's call for a Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) policy are important not to be violated or ignored.  The application of criminal sanctions for fines is an alternative sanction in law enforcement so that people are deterred, educated and as a means of government social control. The research method is normative juridical supported by empirical research using secondary data in the form of books, legislation and the internet. Type of qualitative research. The results of the study concluded that the government must be firm in applying criminal sanctions and criminal fines as an alternative to making people deterrent, educated and as a means of social control Keywords: PSBB, Criminal Fines, Prevention.


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