Giovanni Mastrobuoni interviewed on Information Technology and crime prevention

On December 15 Giovanni Mastrobuoni was interviewed by TG3 Rai to illustrate his recent study on the use of Information Technology devices for preventing crime, which appeared in the The Review of Economic Studies.

Mastrobuoni explained that employing predictive softwares, based on the analysis of recurring patterns in crime episodes, can improve police productivity as measured by crime clearance rates.

Thanks to detailed information on individual incidents and offender-level identifiers, his study also shows that criminals’ strategies are predictable. Moreover, the introduction of predictive policing coincides with a large negative trend-discontinuity in crime rates. The benefit–cost ratio of this IT innovation appears to be large.

Watch the full interview (in Italian) from RAI TGR Buongiorno Regione Piemonte, December 15, 2022: