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Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Artificial Justice

Artificial Justice

Hardcover

Series: Oxford Technology Law and Policy

General Law

ISBN10: 0192846892
ISBN13: 9780192846891
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: Jan 26 2024
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.95
Height: 1.20 Width: 6.40 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Imagine that Eric, a young man, has been convicted of a gang-related crime: he was found by police at the scene of a robbery carried out by his friends. The sentencing judge now needs to make a decision. Not knowing whether Eric poses a risk to the public, she turns to an algorithmic risk assessment - a set of rules, developed on the basis of correlations between individual characteristics and criminal activity, which predicts the likelihood of recidivism. Eric is a conscientious citizen, who has never before been in trouble with the law. However, he was raised in foster care, in an area with high rates of crime, poverty, and residential instability- facts to which the algorithm attributes a high risk score. The judge recommends a sentence of the maximum possible duration, with extended post-release supervision.

Why does this matter? The answer most often given is that it matters because of inequality, captured through the language of 'bias' or 'discrimination': the effect of using algorithms can be to exacerbate unjustified differences between people, on the basis of considerations such as race, sex, or socio-economic circumstance.

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General Law