Support Activities under Section 13(d) of Executive Order 14074: Workshops on Law Enforcement Use of Probabilistic DNA Technologies and Person-based Predictive Policing

The May 25, 2022, executive order on “advancing effective, accountable policing and criminal justice practices to enhance public trust and public safety” directs the Attorney General to work with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) “to conduct a study of facial recognition technology, other technologies using biometric information, and predictive algorithms, with a particular focus on the use of such technologies and algorithms by law enforcement, that includes an assessment of how such technologies and algorithms are used, and any privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, accuracy (including sensitivity and specificity), or disparate impact concerns raised by those technologies and algorithms or their manner of use.”

NASEM is currently conducting a consensus study assessing current capabilities, future possibilities, societal implications, and governance of facial recognition technologies. Two separate NASEM workshops examining law enforcement use of probabilistic and predictive forensic DNA technologies and law enforcement use of person-based predictive policing strategies are described in this proposal. Taken together, the consensus study and two workshops will fulfill the executive order's request for guidance.

NASEM will convene planning committees to conduct a two-day public workshop on law enforcement use of probabilistic genotyping, forensic DNA phenotyping, and forensic investigative genetic genealogy technologies and a 2-day workshop on law enforcement use of person-based predictive policing. They will explore: (1) How are probabilistic genotyping, facial predictions, and genetic genealogy being used by law enforcement across federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial actors? and How are person-based predictive policing strategies being used by law enforcement across federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial actors? (respectively) (2) How reliable and accurate are these methods in practice? (3) What are the relevant legal considerations and precedents that accompany these new technologies? (4) What are the disparate impact concerns raised by these technologies or their manner of use? (5) What considerations (e.g., accuracy of these technologies, including underlying issues of sensitivity and specificity; privacy, civil rights, civil liberties; and disparate impact) need to be assessed in implementing these technologies and the use of genetic material by law enforcement? and (6) What are institutional considerations for operations and procedures to ensure that these technologies are being used effectively and equitably? After the workshops, a proceedings of a workshop and a proceedings of a workshop in brief (PIB) summarizing the presentations and discussions will be prepared by a designated rapporteur in accordance with institutional guidelines. NCA/NCF