Algorithmic tyranny:Psycho-Pass, science fiction and the criminological imagination

<jats:p>This article makes a case for the value of science fiction to criminologists through examining the popular Japanese cyber-punk anime series Psycho-Pass. Through portraying a surveillance society of pre-crime and algorithmic policing, Psycho-Pass raises important questions about the datafication of crime and its role in facilitating increasingly invasive and ubiquitous forms of social control. Psycho-Pass, I argue, encourages us to question a society of algorithmic tyranny: a society where the overwhelming majority of classifications are driven by algorithms, and where crime has been reduced to a data object and ‘measureable type’. I conclude my case for incorporating the technological imagination of science fiction into the criminological imagination through identifying three key resources the genre may offer criminologists: archaeological, pedagogical and capacity building for reflexive governance.</jats:p>