4 ms·

More data and surveillance are transforming justice systems

25 points by ehudla 8y ago

ourmandave 8y ago
ON WHAT does the administration of justice depend? Devotees of the Old Testament might say wisdom, as displayed in King Solomon’s judgment. I'm not for law enforcement hacking into my iPhone to obtain evidence. But suggesting it be cut it in half, old school, ain't progress either.
- musage 8y ago
  It says "wisdom", not "cut it in half". What would "cut it in half" even mean here, in context? Nothing. Also, what you call "cutting in half" actually isn't cutting anything in half, but merely suggesting to do so, in order to achieve something else: > By suggesting to cut the baby in two, with each woman to receive half, he was able to discern the true mother as one of the women entirely approved of this proposal, while the other begged that the sword might be sheathed and the child committed to the care of her rival. I'll give you an example of just how silly your response is even without that. Imagine the question is how many gallons of fuel a certain car needs to travel a certain distance, and "using maths" (analogous to "using wisdom") the answer is 3 gallons of fuel. That doesn't mean that for any problem where you use maths to come up with an answer the answer is "3 gallons of fuel". This is a very well written (and illustrated) article, raising important points. But no.
- joeyo 8y ago
  I ... think you might have misunderstood the story.
joe_the_user 8y ago
It is worth remembering that TV-show style suspect hunting is a rather small portion of the activity of the cops, lawyers and judges of the justice system. I'd suggest the exercise of spending a day watching an average court function. Most of the cases have no facts in question - or maybe the defendant will claim something and be immediately shown wrong. Instead, it's draconian social work for the extremely dysfunctional and those in the wrong place at the wrong time. When there are facts in question, it's usually about "how exactly do this bad thing happen" with who was there make it happen only occasionally in question. I'd imagine the main place this increased surveillance would matter is the cat-and-mouse competition between the business of selling illegal drugs and the business of making stopping them seem like a plausible idea. How, supply and demand will likely keep the supply there but I'd assume this supply will be even more under the control of crooked cops.

25 points by ehudla 8y ago

ON WHAT does the administration of justice depend? Devotees of the Old Testament might say wisdom, as displayed in King Solomon’s judgment. I'm not for law enforcement hacking into my iPhone to obtain evidence. But suggesting it be cut it in half, old school, ain't progress either.

musage 8y ago
It says "wisdom", not "cut it in half". What would "cut it in half" even mean here, in context? Nothing. Also, what you call "cutting in half" actually isn't cutting anything in half, but merely suggesting to do so, in order to achieve something else: > By suggesting to cut the baby in two, with each woman to receive half, he was able to discern the true mother as one of the women entirely approved of this proposal, while the other begged that the sword might be sheathed and the child committed to the care of her rival. I'll give you an example of just how silly your response is even without that. Imagine the question is how many gallons of fuel a certain car needs to travel a certain distance, and "using maths" (analogous to "using wisdom") the answer is 3 gallons of fuel. That doesn't mean that for any problem where you use maths to come up with an answer the answer is "3 gallons of fuel". This is a very well written (and illustrated) article, raising important points. But no.
joeyo 8y ago
I ... think you might have misunderstood the story.

joe_the_user 8y ago

It is worth remembering that TV-show style suspect hunting is a rather small portion of the activity of the cops, lawyers and judges of the justice system. I'd suggest the exercise of spending a day watching an average court function. Most of the cases have no facts in question - or maybe the defendant will claim something and be immediately shown wrong. Instead, it's draconian social work for the extremely dysfunctional and those in the wrong place at the wrong time. When there are facts in question, it's usually about "how exactly do this bad thing happen" with who was there make it happen only occasionally in question. I'd imagine the main place this increased surveillance would matter is the cat-and-mouse competition between the business of selling illegal drugs and the business of making stopping them seem like a plausible idea. How, supply and demand will likely keep the supply there but I'd assume this supply will be even more under the control of crooked cops.