Equity of treatment is often legally unmeasurable and practically unassessable.

Evidence

The context of client differentiation makes performance of all kinds difficult to assess. In particular it is difficult to assess equity of treatment. In some instances it is against the law to collect the data that would be necessary to demonstrate patterns of bias. In other instances there are no sound indicators of service quality, so it is usually impossible to assess workers in this respect. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 819

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the FOIA/transparency literature on judicial exemptions enabling non-disclosure — same mechanism, different domain. — connects to: Proportionality-to-rights accounts of fairness are empirically empty because rights themselves are unconstrained. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 468
• SEED: Angle on how data-collection bans (and algorithmic opacity) immunize discriminatory discretion from audit.

Broader Connections

• Proportionality-to-rights accounts of fairness are empirically empty because rights themselves are unconstrained. #corroborates (0.85) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 468