Law and Order Circa 2050

Powerful technologies from new surveillance systems to predictive algorithms are transforming the way law enforcement prevents and fights crime. They hold the promise of a much safer future, though they also threaten to encroach upon our privacy and to perpetuate biases against people based on their race, or where they live.

As with most transformative technologies, the development and dissemination of these new crime-fighting tools is taking place more quickly and with less democratic oversight than you might expect. And this at a time of heightened concern nationwide about the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. 

Future Tense met on Wednesday, Nov. 30 in Washington, D.C. to consider how new crime-fighting technologies should be deployed to prevent crime, protect our rights, and improve the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they are meant to protect and serve.

Future Tense is a partnership of Arizona State University, New America, and Slate.

Will Technology Make Crime Obsolete? - Featuring P. Jeffrey Brantingham, Professor of Anthropology, UCLA and Co-Founder, PredPol; Kami N. Chavis, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Public Engagement, Wake Forest University and Director of the Criminal Justice Program, Wake Forest University; and, Ralph Clark, President and CEO, ShotSpotter. Moderated by Leon Neyfakh, Staff writer, Slate.

Policing Data and Transparency to Build Community Trust - Featuring Denice Ross
Co-founder, Police Data Initiative, Senior Advisor, Community Solutions, The White House

Will Crime-Fighting Technologies Make Privacy Obsolete? - Featuring Lauren Kirchner
Senior Reporting Fellow, ProPublica and Jennifer Lynch, Senior Staff Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation. Moderated by Laura Moy, Visiting Assistant Professor, Georgetown University Law Center and Program Fellow, New America's Open Technology Institute

Will Technology Improve Police-Community Relations? - Featuring Charles Katz, Professor, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University and Watts Family Director, Center for Violence Prevention & Community Safety, Arizona State University; Tracie Keesee, Deputy Commissioner of Training, NYPD; David Oh, Councilman At-Large, Philadelphia City Council; and Samuel Sinyangwe, Co-founder, WeTheProtesters and Policy Analyst and Data Scientist, Campaign Zero. Moderated by Wesley Lowery, National Reporter, The Washington Post and Author, They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement