UK govt to launch Minority Report-style project that predict crimes

The UK government is developing a controversial "murder prediction" system that uses personal data to identify individuals most likely to commit serious violent crimes, according to The Guardian.

Originally named the “homicide prediction project” but rebranded to “sharing data to improve risk assessment,” the initiative is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). It uses data from convicted individuals, drawing from sources such as the Probation Service and Greater Manchester Police records dating back to before 2015.

Although the government claims the programme is currently a research project aimed at enhancing public safety, civil liberties groups have raised concerns over its ethical implications, warning it could reinforce existing biases and infringe on privacy.

According to documents uncovered by pressure group Statewatch through Freedom of Information requests, the data being processed includes names, birth dates, ethnicity, gender, and unique police identifiers, the broadsheet reported. 

It also lists “special categories” of sensitive data such as mental health status, addiction, vulnerability, self-harm, disability, and prior contact with the police — even if the person was a victim or sought help.

While the MoJ insists the programme only uses data from individuals with at least one criminal conviction, Statewatch claimed that agreements include sharing personal data from those never charged with a crime. This includes the age a person was when they were first recorded as a victim or had any interaction with police, including domestic abuse cases.

Sofia Lyall, a researcher at Statewatch, condemned the programme, calling it “chilling and dystopian.” She said the system risks embedding institutional bias, especially against racialised and low-income communities, and described the use of sensitive health data as "deeply intrusive."

An MoJ spokesperson defended the project, stating it aims to “review offender characteristics that increase the risk of committing homicide” and assess whether integrating broader data can improve current risk tools used by probation services. 

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