Amicus Presents: The Pre-Crime Unit
Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Slate Audio
4.6 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2019
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Predictive policing technology is spreading across the country, and Los Angeles is the epicenter. A small group of LA activists are in a lopsided campaign against billions of dollars in city, federal, and Silicon Valley money using algorithms to predict where and when the next crime is going to occur, and even who the perpetrators are going to be.
Today, AMICUS is here to introduce you to Hi-Phi Nation, a new podcast from Slate. In this episode, host Barry Lam embeds with the Stop LAPD Spying coalition for a week in Skid Row and investigates how state-of-the-art predictive policing programs work. He then talks to sociologists and philosophers about how big data is changing the relationship between police and the communities they serve. We then turn to the justice of using statistical predictions for the purposes of profiling and police intervention. This is part 1 of 2 on the use of statistical algorithms in criminal justice. Guest voices include the LAPD police commissioners, Hamid Khan, Jamie Garcia, Sarah Brayne, Flora Salim, and Renee Bolinger.
This episode is brought to you by Care/Of. For 50% off your first month of personalized Care/of vitamins, go to TakeCareOf.com and enter promo code HIPHI50 at check out.
Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi there, it's me, Dahlia. And while Amicus is off this week, I'm here to introduce you to the new Slate podcast, Hi-Fi Nation. |
| 0:08.2 | Hi-Fi Nation is philosophy in story form. Every episode features stories of extraordinary human experiences and transforms them into an examination of philosophical ideas that challenge our basic assumptions. |
| 0:21.8 | With the help of philosophers, Hi-Fi Nation weaves together narrative storytelling, investigative journalism, and |
| 0:26.4 | sound design to examine thought-provoking questions. You're about to hear episode one of the new |
| 0:31.5 | season called the Pre-crime Unit. In this episode, High Fine Nation host Barry Lamb, an associate |
| 0:37.2 | professor of philosophy at |
| 0:38.5 | Vassar College, explores how the use of algorithms in the criminal justice system is leading |
| 0:43.8 | to predictive policing and causing some community blowback. Hi Phi Nation has received critical |
| 0:49.6 | acclaim from The Guardian, Huffington Post, IndieWire, and lots of other places, which is why we're so happy to welcome it into the Slate Podcast Network. |
| 0:58.0 | If you like this episode, subscribe to the show in its own feed for new episodes. |
| 1:02.4 | Just search for High Fine Nation in your favorite podcast app. |
| 1:06.3 | Thank you so much. |
| 1:07.4 | Enjoy. |
| 1:09.1 | The High Fire Nation from Slate. so much. Enjoy. My last time, from |
| 1:11.8 | Slate. |
| 1:15.0 | Every Tuesday in downtown |
| 1:16.4 | L.A., the LAPD police |
| 1:18.3 | commissioners have a board meeting that starts |
| 1:20.3 | at 9.30 in the morning. Please call the roll. |
| 1:22.9 | Good morning. Let the record |
| 1:24.2 | reflect Commissioner Sobrough, Decker, |
| 1:27.3 | Bonner, and Goldsmith are president. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Audio, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Audio and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.