{"id":33549,"date":"2018-11-13T17:15:47","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T22:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-your-alibai-rise-of-recidivism-reducing-robots\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T17:15:47","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T22:15:47","slug":"whats-your-alibai-rise-of-recidivism-reducing-robots","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-your-alibai-rise-of-recidivism-reducing-robots\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s your alibAI: rise of recidivism reducing robots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Barton is the charismatic Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary, a police organisation in the north of England overseeing County Durham and its c.524,000 inhabitants [1]. He has two big problems: the first, he can\u2019t seem to deter offenders from committing new crimes. The second, his budget is shrinking whilst the population is growing.<\/p>\n

In 2016 there were 21,354 criminal offences committed by people on bail for a previous offence in County Durham. Efforts to reduce numbers have consistently failed \u2013 as shown below, the Durham reoffending rate has stayed around 30% for the last ten years in which data are available, whilst for England and Wales as a whole the rate has actually increased from 35.5% to 42.0% [2].\u00a0At the same time, national funding has fallen by 19% in real terms from FY10\/11 to FY18\/19, driving a related workforce reduction of 18%. County Durham was one of the worst forces hit, facing a real terms funding reduction of 22% [3].<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: UK Ministry of Justice (2018)<\/h6>\n

Barton is turning to machine learning as a possible solution. Other UK forces are trialling such solutions across the \u2018value chain\u2019 of police activity as algorithmic decision-making can consider vastly higher quantities of evidence than a human could manage. A system called VALCRI is being piloted by West Midlands Police to conduct crime analytics and answer questions typically reserved for a detective \u2013 how, why, when, and by whom was a crime committed? [4]. Kent Police are trialling the PredPol system widely used in the US which seeks to predict geographical areas where crime is likely to occur [5,6].<\/p>\n

Durham Constabulary\u2019s foray into machine learning is a cornerstone of its recidivism prevention program Checkpoint. In conjunction with the University of Cambridge they are developing an algorithm known as the Harm Assessment Risk Tool (HART) to identify offenders for placement into the program as an alternative to prosecution [7,8].<\/p>\n

HART uses random forest forecasting to classify offenders into high, moderate, or low risk groups for reoffending. The forecast considers both the likelihood of the individual to reoffend, and the expected seriousness of the offence. A multiplicity of unique regression trees based on 34 input variables output a \u2018vote\u2019 on which group an offender should be classified into, which is subsequently weighted to sum to a final decision on how each individual should be categorised. Weightings are determined based on the potential error type \u2013 conservatism is built into the model so that, for example, the algorithm is more likely to erroneously classify a low risk offender as high than vice versa, since the reverse situation would be regarded as more dangerous [8].<\/p>\n

The first trial of the system resulted in an overall accuracy of 62.8%, although it appears to have performed better on an error-weighted basis as it only made \u2018very dangerous\u2019 errors (that is, erroneously classifying a high-risk individual as low risk) in 0.73% of cases (see below for full results) [9]. The question for Chief Constable Barton is whether to roll-out machine learning more widely in the medium term, and how much faith his officers should place in the system. 62.8% may not seem like a sufficiently high success rate, but how does this compare to the next best alternative \u2013 a human?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: Urwin, S. (2016)<\/h6>\n

Data has not been published on the algorithm\u2019s success rate vs police officers, but Barton has stated there is \u201cnot a big difference\u201d [10]. He remarks this sheepishly to a question about the algorithm\u2019s efficacy, but one could also read his statement to say that the first iteration of this algorithm has proved itself roughly as effective as a group of trained police officers.<\/p>\n

To the contrary, recent evidence from pilots in the US suggests that Durham Constabulary needs to be wary in its implementation. Whilst PredPol claim that their system has led to measurable improvements where it has been implemented [6], a recent academic study suggests the popular COMPAS system used for assisting bail and sentencing decisions is no more accurate than a group of random humans [11].<\/p>\n

Durham Constabulary is deploying an algorithm which removes the onus from police officers of making a difficult decision which the data suggests they don\u2019t get any better at over time. Chief Constable Barton should be lauded for finding new ways to \u2018do more with less\u2019, but given the lack of public engagement, limited evidence of efficacy, and no signs of a regulatory framework, he has gone too far. There are important open questions here which must be resolved publicly: will it ever be just to rely on machines for a decision which removes a person\u2019s freedom? Or is it indeed unjust not<\/em> to use the machine, if it is provably more reliable than a human?<\/p>\n

[776 words]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] Durham County Council, \u201cAbout us\u201d. Available here<\/a> (accessed November 2018).<\/p>\n

[2] UK Ministry of Justice (2018) \u201cProven reoffending statistics: geographical data tool\u201d. Available here<\/a>\u00a0(accessed November 2018).<\/p>\n

[3] UK National Audit Office (2018) \u201cFinancial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales 2018\u201d, HC 1501<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[4] Revell, T. (2017) \u201cAI detective analyses police data to learn how to crack cases\u201d, New Scientist, 3125. <\/em>Available here<\/a>\u00a0(accessed November 2018).<\/p>\n

[5] Ferris, G. (2018) \u201cHome Affairs Select Committee: Policing for the Future inquiry supplementary evidence\u201d, Big Brother Watch<\/em>. Available here<\/a>\u00a0(accessed November 2018).<\/p>\n

[6] PredPol, Inc., \u201cProven Crime Reduction Results\u201d. Available here<\/a>\u00a0(accessed November 2018).<\/p>\n

[7] Durham Constabulary, \u201cCheckpoint\u201d. Available here<\/a> (accessed November 2018).<\/p>\n

[8] Oswald, M., Grace, J., Urwin, S. and Barnes, G. (2018) \u201cAlgorithmic risk assessment policing models: lessons from the Durham HART model and \u2018Experimental\u2019 proportionality\u201d, Information & Communications Technology Law, 27(2): 223 – 250<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[9] Urwin, S. (2016) “Algorithmic Forecasting of Offender Dangerousness for Police Custody Officers: An Assessment of Accuracy for the Durham Constabulary Model”, unpublished thesis,\u00a0University of Cambridge<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[10] Barton, M. (2018). Oral evidence to The Law Society of England and Wales\u2019 Technology and the Law Policy Commission. Available here<\/a>\u00a0(accessed November 2018).<\/p>\n

[11] Devlin, H. (2018) \u201cSoftware \u2018no more accurate than untrained humans\u2019 at judging reoffending risk\u201d, The Guardian<\/em>. Available here<\/a>\u00a0(accessed November 2018)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a small county in northern England, a police constabulary is taking the first faltering steps to outsourcing their recidivism decisions to a machine. Can machines do it better than humans, and who decides if they should be allowed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11050,"featured_media":33550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1869,4854,2472,4853,4855,3434,1355,4851,346,2264,4850,3208,4852,4857,4856,134,897],"class_list":["post-33549","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-county-durham","category-criminal-justice","category-durham","category-durham-constabulary","category-england","category-ethics","category-hart","category-machine-learning","category-police","category-policing","category-public-administration","category-random-forest","category-recidivism","category-reoffenders","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","hck-taxonomy-organization-durham-constabulary","hck-taxonomy-industry-public-administration","hck-taxonomy-country-united-kingdom"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/rc-tom-challenge-2018\/","yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s your alibAI: rise of recidivism reducing robots - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-your-alibai-rise-of-recidivism-reducing-robots\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s your alibAI: rise of recidivism reducing robots - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a small county in northern England, a police constabulary is taking the first faltering steps to outsourcing their recidivism decisions to a machine. 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