Predicting murder

Dvorak Uncensored has a post titled "Forecasting Murder" which looks at a tool developed by a University of Pennsylvania criminologist and statistician, Richard Berk, which can predict the likelihood that a person would commit murder.  The tool apparently makes these predictions up to 40 times more accurate.

Of course the first thing that comes to mind is the movie Minority Report which is based on a future where a law enforcement team uses predictions made by three psychics to predict when a person will commit murder and then preempts that anticipated crime and imprisons the almost-criminal.  The movie raised the same sorts of questions which I am sure this new tool will raise.  Does a prediction that a person is going to commit a crime make that person guilty?  What about the presumption of innocence and the requirement that there be due process when investigating a crime and putting an accused through the criminal justice system.

On the other hand, if there is a tool that accurately predicts that a person will commit a murder, should it not be relied on, even at the risk of accusing a person who may still be innocent?

Tags: predict murder, predict crime, minority report, presumption of innocence, due process, criminal procedure, ethics, human rights