Risking Children: The Implications of Predictive Risk Analytics Across Child Protection and Policing for Vulnerable and Marginalized Children

Predictive risk models (‘PRMs’) are increasingly utilized in policing and child protection contexts to monitor, flag and assess children ‘at risk’ of victimization and/or offending. Policing and child protection PRMs focus on similar vulnerable and marginalized cohorts, strengthening the power of the State’s gaze over these groups. An analysis of the overlap between these PRMs reveals problematic State constructions of vulnerability and risk, exposing porous lines between welfare and policing agendas. This Article contends that these PRMs may result in the criminalization of vulnerable and marginalized children, thus undermining objectives of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The UNCRC is applied to assess implications for privacy, discrimination and child justice principles, in context with positive obligations to protect children and promote their best interests. The Article also addresses the UNCRC through a critical lens, identifying shortcomings that may undermine its potential to confront relevant harms.