Algorithmic tools can reduce racial bias by excluding race and context from legal decisions

Evidence

This is not the only example of legal technology working for good. As discussed above, in San Francisco, AI is being used to blind police reports so that prosecutors cannot tell the race of defendants (Gecker, 2019). Jurisdictions across the country are using the Public Safety Assessment tool (PSA), which was designed to reduce bias in judicial decision-making. In assessing dangerousness, the tool takes into account age and history of criminal convictions, but it elides race, gender, employment background, where a defendant lives, and history of criminal arrests (Arnold Foundation, 2018). Finally, there is groundbreaking theoretical work showing that machine predictions can lead to drastically improved legal outcomes (Kleinberg et al., 2018). The authors found that their policy simulation would reduce crime by up to 25 percent without causing an increase in jail populations. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1172

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s bias-in-law volume on technological fixes versus the conviction/measured-bias gap; PSA is a common tool flagged in that literature. — connects to: Color-blind language like ‘community integrity’ could package segregation acceptably — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 189
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1172