Document Type
Article
Publication Title
University of Louisville Law Review
Publication Date
Summer 2025
Page Number
489
Keywords
police profiling, criminal law, Fourth Amendment, algorithms
Disciplines
Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | Law
Abstract
Police departments increasingly rely on algorithms and other data- driven methods of identifying high-crime areas andpeople who are at high risk for involvement in crime. This Article examines several constitutional obstacles to this type ofpolicing. First, to the extent that these algorithms rely on data entitled to privacy protection, they may violate the Fourth Amendment. Second, the steps police take in response to a "hot" place or person designation must also be subject to constitutional regulation. Further, the principle of legality should prohibit the police from acting on any risk designation, even one that is very likely accurate, in the absence of direct observation of risky conduct. For the same reason, and to combat the influence of racially based "dirty data," algorithm developers must finely tune both the inputs and outputs of their profiles. Finally, a failure to disclose the inner workings ofa predictive algorithm may violate the Confrontation Clause. Combined, these legal concerns could well spell the demise of profile-driven policing.
Recommended Citation
Christopher Slobogin,
Data-Driven Police Profiling, 63 University of Louisville Law Review. 489
(2025)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1646