Fragmented Users of Crime Predictions

6 Pages Posted: 3 Nov 2010

See all articles by Ronald F. Wright

Ronald F. Wright

Wake Forest University - School of Law

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

In this commentary on an article by Henderson, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz, proposing the use of open markets for the prediction of crime, I explore a few implications stemming from one fact. The prediction market concept — an effort to coordinate decentralized sources of information — would operate in an exceptionally decentralized world of users, a world where the institutional users of crime predictions are fragmented among many different locations and levels of government.

The social response to crime in the United States today still remains quite decentralized. Fragmented local institutions, especially police departments and prosecutors’ offices, would find it difficult to use crime prediction markets. Henderson, Wolfers, and Zitzewitz have envisioned the sellers in their markets more carefully than the buyers of predictions. The majority of the potential users operate in fragmented local institutions, surrounded by thin markets that are not likely to generate reliable predictions. A smaller number of purchasers, such as state-level correctional authorities, would use markets to overcome the greatest information challenge at the higher level: coordinating input from many incompatible sources. I close by noting that a few actors at the local level — in particular, sentencing judges — combine features of fragmented and centralized users. The ability of local actors to use far-flung crime data poses the question of whether markets at the case level would be either appealing or possible.

Suggested Citation

Wright, Ronald F., Fragmented Users of Crime Predictions (2009). Arizona Law Review, Vol. 52, No. 1, 2009, Wake Forest Univ. Legal Studies Paper No. 1701110, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1701110

Ronald F. Wright (Contact Author)

Wake Forest University - School of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 7206
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
United States
336-758-5727 (Phone)
336-758-4496 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
53
Abstract Views
950
Rank
681,958
PlumX Metrics