Pre-Crime

In today’s criminal justice system, what was once the realm of science fiction has become a reality. The concept of “pre-crime,” first introduced by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, is now a policing strategy employed in the US and Europe to pinpoint “hot people”—individuals most likely to become crime victims or offenders. This approach relies on forecasting software and algorithms, which have faced criticism for being unreliable and arbitrary, to gather data, monitor, and flag individuals. However, the effectiveness of these predictive tools is contingent on the quality of the data they process. With little evidence supporting the dependability of the data sources or the precision of the analysis, errors are inevitable. In this chilling and explosive exploration of contemporary policing, directors Monika Hielscher and Matthias Heider raise a crucial question: How much of our freedom and human insight are we prepared to surrender to the constrained logic of technology?