Reforming the System
How Neuroscience is Reforming Criminal Justice
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New research into how the brain works is contributing to innovative strategies for reducing recidivism and developing alternatives to incarceration.
Reforming the System
Civil Rights Advocates Say Risk Assessment May ‘Worsen Racial Disparities’ in Bail Decisions
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More than 100 civil rights, “digital justice” and community groups issued a statement expressing concerns about the expanding use of risk assessment instruments as a substitute for basing bail releases on money. The groups said risk assessment tools may not only exacerbate racial bias but “allow further incarceration.”
Reforming the System
How ‘Pseudoscience’ Turns Sex Offenders into Permanent Outlaws
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A risk assessment tool used for two decades to assess sex offenders’ likelihood of committing a future offense has been repeatedly exposed as “pseudo-scientific humbug.” So why do New York State courts continue to use it?
Probation and Parole
Why I Am Not a Recidivist
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A Washington State parole board rejected our columnist’s appeal for release from prison for a crime committed when he was a juvenile on the grounds that he had a “moderate to high” likelihood of re-offending. But they appear to have based the decision on a psychological risk assessment tool used to measure adult offenders.
New Research Casts More Doubt on Risk Assessment Tool
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Two computer scientists, writing in the journal “Science Advances,” say the two-decade-old COMPAS system is no more accurate or fair than predictions made by people with little or no criminal justice expertise.” Over the past two decades, the program has been used to assess more than one million criminal offenders.
Policing
NYC Measure Would Probe Bias in Justice Algorithms
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Critics charge that despite claims of objectivity, algorithms reproduce existing biases, disproportionately targeting people by class, race, and gender. Reformers say another New York City bill, the Right to Know Act, doesn’t go far enough.
Reforming the System
Fewer Prisoners, Less Crime? The Elusive Promise of Algorithms
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Early evidence suggests some risk assessment tools offer promise in rationalizing decisions on granting bail without racial bias. But we still need to monitor how judges actually use the algorithms, says a Boston attorney.
Bail Reform
U.S. Gets ‘Abysmal’ Grade on Pretrial Justice
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The first baseline measurement of pretrial justice across the U.S. has found most states to be failing, with a few “promising” exceptions, according to the Pretrial Justice Institute.
Viewpoints
Risk Assessment: The Devil’s in the Details
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In Philip K. Dick’s “Minority Report,” criminals could be identified before they committed a crime. Computer-generated risk algorithms used by courts to determine whether individuals should be released ahead of trial have brought us a step closer to that world–and our challenge is to use them responsibly, says a George Mason University professor.
Viewpoints
Bail Reform: Why Judges Should Reject ‘Risk Assessment’
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Tools that use algorithms to determine whether to detain accused individuals before a trial are increasingly being used across the country as an alternative to the bail system. But the vice president of the Los Angeles County Association of Deputy District Attorneys argues that the tools also lead to tragedies.