Research and development in criminal law and criminology

Research and development in criminal law and criminology

Dealing with Crime in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Prediction as Prevention

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Mehrnoosh Abouzari
Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jclc.2025.720961
Abstract
Intelligent machines have long been the subject of science fiction, but now humanity lives in an age where artificial intelligence (AI) is a reality, exerting profound effects on daily life. AI has the capacity to become an integral part of the criminal justice system, providing professionals the opportunity to achieve the goals of this field with greater accuracy. In this article, by examining the achievements of AI in criminal investigations, we present its effectiveness in the fight against crime based on implemented concepts. We explain that the use of AI goes beyond mere crime prevention and the creation of obstacles or costs for crime. Through temporal and spatial dimensions, AI achieves the prediction of criminal behavior and, so to speak, nips crime in the bud. This technology has the potential to create a significant revolution in the field of crime fighting in the future and to form a new paradigm in criminal justice, which is discussed in this article.
Keywords
Artificial Intelligence
Prevention
Prediction
Crime
Subjects

  1. Persian Sources

    1. Aghajani, Maryam. (2020). Artificial Intelligence: From Basic to Advanced. Tehran: Nasl-e Roshan Publications. (in Persian)

    2. Aboozari, Mehrnoush. (2021). Law and Artificial Intelligence. Tehran: Mizan Publishing. (in Persian)

    3. Amin Saremi, Nozar. (2009). “The Role of Prediction in Crime Prevention”, under the supervision of Mohammad Farajiha and Gholamreza Mohammadnasl, in: Proceedings of the First Conference on Crime Prevention (Police Crime Prevention). Tehran: NAJA Training Deputy Publications. (in Persian)

    4. Pashazadeh, Gholamhossein; Seyed Ashrafi, Mir Mostafa. (2020). “The Role of Geographic Information Systems in the Analysis of Urban Crime Hotspots”, in A New Approach to Crime Prevention. Tehran: Mizan Publishing. (in Persian)

    5. Pak Nehad, Amir. (2015). Risk-Oriented Criminal Policy. Tehran: Mizan Publishing. (in Persian)

    6. Pourghahremani, Babak; Karimzadeh, Bayaz. (2019). “The Position of Statistical Crime Risk Assessment Teachings in the Institution of Conditional Release”, Quarterly Journal of Private and Criminal Law Research, No. 41, pp. 115–137. (in Persian)

    7. Tegmark, Max. (2019). Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, translated by Meysam Mohammadmini. Tehran: Nashr-e No. (in Persian)

    8. Khaleghi, Ali. (2008). “Forecasting and Exchange of Statistics and Information in the Multi-Agency Approach to Crime Prevention”, in: Proceedings of the National Conference on Crime Prevention, supervised by Mohammad Farajiha. Tehran: Applied Research Office of NAJA Prevention Police. (in Persian)

    9. Khanalipour, Sakineh. (2011). Technical Crime Prevention. Tehran: Mizan Publishing. (in Persian)

    10. Davoudi Garmaroudi, Homa; Akhtari, Marzieh. (2012). “Justice Measurement and Its Pathology”, in A New Approach to Crime Prevention. Tehran: Mizan Publishing. (in Persian)

    11. Zolghadr, Mohammad Bagher; Jalali Farahani, Amir Hossein. (2012). “From Criminal Statistics to Criminal Atlas”, in New Approaches to Crime Prevention. Tehran: Mizan Publishing. (in Persian)

    12. Russell, Jonathan; Norvig, Peter. (2009). A Modern Approach to Artificial Intelligence, translated by Saeed Rahati, Mohammad Behdad, and Hamid Teymouri. Mashhad: Astan Quds Razavi Publications. (in Persian)

    13. Russell, Jonathan; Norvig, Peter. (2015). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, translated by Einollah Jafarnezhad Ghomi. Babol: Computer Sciences Publications. (in Persian)

    14. Lee, Kai-Fu. (2019). AI Superpowers, translated by Mir Javad Seyyed Hosseini. Tehran: Parseh Publishing. (in Persian)

    15. Nabavi Fard, Samaneh; Shirzad, Hadi; Jalili, Shirin. (2019). “A Review of Brain Mapping Applications in Criminology and Neural Prediction of Criminal Behaviors”, Police Medicine Scientific-Research Quarterly, No. 1, pp. 54–59. (in Persian)

    English Sources

    1. Bruinsma, Gerben; Elffers, Henk; et al. (2004). Actuarial Justice and the Modern State. Developments in Criminology and Criminal Justice Research. Willan Publishing.

    2. Furtado, V.; Vasconcelos, et al. (2007). “Geosimulation in Education: A System for Teaching Police Resource Allocations”, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Vol. 17, No. 1.

    3. Liaha, Olta. (2020). “Crime Analysis and Prediction Using Machine Learning”, MIPRO Conference on Computers and Information Technology.

    4. Gorr, Neil. (2007). “Detecting and Preventing Emerging Epidemics of Crime”, Heinz School of Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.

    5. Perry, Walter; et al. (2013). The Role of Crime Forecasting in Law Enforcement Operations. RAND Corporation.

    6. Rademacher, T. (2020). “Artificial Intelligence and Law Enforcement”, in T. Wischmeyer & T. Rademacher (Eds.), Regulating AI. Springer.

    7. Shal, Neil; et al. (2021). “Crime Forecasting: A Machine Learning and Computer Vision Approach to Crime Prevention”, Visual Computing for Industry, Biomedicine and Art, 4(9).

    8. Strikwerda, Litska. (2020). “Predictive Policing: The Risks Associated with Risk Assessment”, The Police Journal, Vol. 94, No. 3.

    9. Yu, et al. (2020). “Crime Prediction with Historical Crime and Movement Data of Potential Offenders Using a Spatio-Temporal Cokriging Method”, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, Vol. 9, No. 12.

    10. Walczak, Steven. (2021). “Predicting Crime and Other Uses of Neural Networks in Police Decision Making”, Forensics and Legal Psychology.

    11. Weisburd, David; et al. (2006). “Changing Everything So That Everything Can Remain the Same: CompStat and American Policy in Police Innovation”, in Constructing Representations.

    Electronic Source

    1. Goodyer, Jason. “An Algorithm Predicts Future Crimes”, available at: https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/algorithm-predict-future-crimes-90-accuracy-heres-why-creator-thinks-tech-wont-be-abused/ (last visited on 08/02/2022).