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Re:China using big data to detain people before crime is com... by SerLava on Wednesday February 28, 2018 @04:24PM (#16487115)
>if this is reducing crimes

Every apprehension under this program is a crime by any definition other than the arbitrary declaration of an illegitimate regime.

It would be absolutely astonishing if the people apprehended were likely to illegally kidnap and hold at least 1 citizen in their basement for at least the length of time that these people are detained.

Thus it can pretty much only increase crime.

Re:China using big data to detain people before crime is com... by mc32 on Wednesday February 28, 2018 @04:31PM (#16487197)
Not necessarily. If they are capturing these people because they will have committed a crime and that in and of itself is crime then its not reducing crime.

It's possible that once enough people who on balance might commit a crime are arrested or impeded, then crime will indeed decrease.

Re:China using big data to detain people before crime is com... by rayalez on Wednesday February 28, 2018 @04:40PM (#16487296)
I think you've missed the point.

Even if this system works, people who have not committed a crime (yet) are innocent.

Taking an innocent person, and improsoning him against his will is a crime, pretty extreme one.

Even if this system works really well, it's hard to imagine that the crimes it prevents can be more extreme than the crimes it commits.

Re:China using big data to detain people before crime is com... by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday February 28, 2018 @05:04PM (#16487547)
> Taking an innocent person, and improsoning him against his will is a crime

Every criminal justice system has to balance (1) the risk of convicting the innocent, (2) the risk of letting the true crime-committer commit additional crimes (due to not being caught or caught later), and (3) the risk of being abused. We don’t like pre-crime convictions because we believe risks 1 and 3 outweigh any gains in 2. A culture with a different balance of risks, however, could come to a different but consistent conclusion. I don’t like that conclusion. But it’s at least debatable. Putting political enemies in jail is not.