Posted on Oct 7, 2015
Cpl Software Engineer
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A new Minority Report" tool is being created that will be rolled out using the military as a social experiment lab. Good idea or not?

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-predicting-violent-crime-by-army-soldiers-20151006-story.html
Posted in these groups: Original Crime69a300bf Sociology
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
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It's statistical analysis. You can identify groups most likely to have issues, but not individuals.

It's the same reason 18 year old males pay more for car insurance than 25 year old females.

Per the article, there is a "disproportionate" amount of crime being committed by a subset of the community therefore we expend resources in an attempt to reduce it. It's not a "prediction model" however. It's much more of a risk management model, with an end goal of reduction.
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SGM Mikel Dawson
SGM Mikel Dawson
9 y
Was an interesting read and I agree with you, groups can be sorted out, but not individuals.
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COL Jean (John) F. B.
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Cpl (Join to see) - Interesting. While I certainly support trying to identify soldiers who need help with personal/emotional problems, I am not sure that targeting them by use of some experimental algorithm is such a good thing. Smacks of more social experimentation in the military. Looks to me like it can be used/abused in the future to limit an individual's rights, such as right to bear arms, etc.
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Cpl Software Engineer
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9 y
I completely agree, COL Jean (John) F. B.!
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MAJ Ken Landgren
MAJ Ken Landgren
3 y
It would be good to know information if I was a commander. I would not act on based on the study, I would scan for the at risk SMs, but race will not be part of my thought process.
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Capt Seid Waddell
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"Those most at risk were young, poor, ethnic minorities with low ranks, disciplinary trouble, a suicide attempt and a recent demotion"

Wow. Those with severe attitude problems. Who could have ever predicted THAT?
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