DR: Crime data analysis

Issue

Should Hack for LA sponsor the use of data analysis of Los Angeles crime data published by the city or county

Problem Statement

We believe that there are serious ethical concerns with published crime data, and Hack for LA has a "do no harm" policy that prohibits us from working on projects that risk harming Los Angeles residents.

Potential Solution

Analyze Crime data

Feasibility Determination

We will not be visualizing any crime data.

Summary: Ethically, the main issue is that these visualizations can cause real-world harm—to individuals (through privacy violations), to communities (through stigmatization), and to society (through policy misuse and bias reinforcement). Even if the government makes the data public, it’s not ethically neutral to present it visually without deep consideration of these impacts.

Details: Ethical Reasons to Avoid or Greatly Limit Crime Data Visualizations

1. Reinforcing Harmful Stereotypes
   • Crime datasets reflect where police focus their attention, not where crime truly happens.
   • Mapping this data often paints marginalized neighborhoods as “dangerous” while ignoring under-policed areas.
   • These maps can feed racial profiling, housing discrimination, and biased media coverage.
2. Contributing to Over-Policing
   • Visualizations can be used by policymakers or private actors to justify heavier police presence in already over-policed communities.
   • This creates a feedback loop: more police → more recorded incidents → more “crime” on the map → more police.
3. Misleading the Public
   • Without context about underreporting and policing bias, the public takes the visualization as an objective map of crime.
   • This false sense of precision can fuel fear, political scapegoating, or moral panic.
4. Privacy Risks
   • Even when “anonymized,” detailed location data (e.g., exact address of a domestic violence call) can re-identify victims or suspects.
   • Cross-referencing with other public data sources (like property records or social media) can expose individuals.
5. Impact on Housing, Jobs, and Services
   • Real estate companies, landlords, and insurers sometimes scrape and use crime maps to set rates, deny rentals, or redline neighborhoods.
   • This reinforces inequality and can lead to disinvestment in communities already facing systemic barriers.
6. Lack of Informed Consent
   • The people represented in the data (victims, suspects, witnesses) never consented to having their information—especially location—visualized in ways that could affect their safety or social standing.
   • Even if the government releases it, ethical responsibility still lies with the data visualizer.

💡 Little-known ethical pitfall: Some cities’ “crime map” portals automatically refresh and republish new incidents, meaning your visualization might unknowingly show active investigations or ongoing victim locations—creating real-time safety risks.

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