Algorithmic sentencing and the bias in the code
Courts increasingly use risk-assessment software to inform bail, sentencing, and parole. Explore how these tools work, the evidence of built-in bias, and the debate over letting algorithms shape justice.
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Black defendants are twice as likely as white defendants to be misclassified as high risk by sentencing software.
Proprietary trade secrets prevent lawyers from cross-examining the algorithms used to determine a defendant's future risk.
Sentencing algorithms use residential stability and parental incarceration as proxies for criminal risk.
The COMPAS algorithm correctly predicts violent re-offending only twenty percent of the time.
Judges often suffer from automation bias, favoring numerical scores over their own observations of a defendant.
Four out of five people flagged as violent threats by the software do not actually commit violent crimes.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02The Rise of the Risk Score2 min
- 03The ProPublica Investigation and the Bias Problem3 min
- 04The Black Box and Proprietary Justice3 min
- 05Human-AI Interaction in the Courtroom2 min
- 06Outro1 min
- AI in criminal sentencing: mapping the ethical terrain | AI and Ethics | Springer Nature Link
- Machine Bias
- How We Analyzed the COMPAS Recidivism Algorithm — ProPublica
- [PDF] Report on Algorithmic Risk Assessment Tools in the U.S. ...
- [PDF] AI and the Assessment of Risk in Bail, Sentencing and Recidivism
- Code is law: how COMPAS affects the way the judiciary handles the risk of recidivism | Artificial Intelligence and Law | Springer Nature Link
- Code is law: how COMPAS affects the way the judiciary handles the risk of recidivism
- [PDF] The Challenges of Using Algorithmic Risk Assessments In Sentencing
- The Hidden Effects of Algorithmic Recommendations
- Are Risk Assessment Tools Setting the Stage for AI Judges?
- The accuracy, fairness, and limits of predicting recidivism | Science Advances
- What Algorithmic Injustice Looks Like in Real Life — ProPublica
- Risk-assessment algorithms challenged in bail, sentencing and parole decisions
- Bias in Criminal Risk Scores Is Mathematically Inevitable, Researchers Say — ProPublica
- ProPublica Responds to Company’s Critique of Machine Bias Story — ProPublica
- Algorithms in Judges’ Hands: Incarceration and Inequity in Broward County, Florida
- Wisconsin Court: Warning Labels Are Needed for Scores Rating Defendants’ Risk of Future Crime — ProPublica
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