Activity 2: Problematical the use of science to deal with crime part 1: facial recognition
Watch the video on use of facial recognition in China:
Read ’London could shape the future of facial recognition’ (available on moodle)
Revisit lecture slides focused on CCTV
Answer the following questions:
Were you aware of this technology, and that we are starting to see its adoption in London? how is this technology being used to prevent crime and assist detection?
Considering the clip about this technology’s use in china and the reading on how it is used in London, discuss the practical and ethical problems arising from police use of facial recognition
How might we critique facial recognition as criminologists? What is this ‘solution to crime’ missing out on? (you can go back to Cohen’s guiding questions for criminology to help you answer this question)
Activity 3: Problematising the use of science to deal with crime part 2: statistics
Read the introduction and background sections to ‘What do crime statistics tell us’ by Tim Hope (2013:43-44) available on the reading list
Source: Hope, T. (2013) What do crime statistics tell us in Hale, C., Hayward, K., Wahidin, A., Wincup, E. (eds) Criminology, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Revisit the lecture slides focused on statistics
Answer the following questions:
define the realist and constructionist views on crime statistics
how do these views differ?
What do you think is meant by describing statistics as the ‘arithmetic of politics’?
How useful are statistics to the understanding of crime?
what assumptions do crime scientists make about statistics? in what ways is their position limited or problematic?
