AI is Sending People To Jail -- and Getting it Wrong (technologyreview.com)

At the Data for Black Lives conference last weekend, technologists, legal experts, and community activists snapped the kind of impact AI has on our lives into perspective with a discussion of America's criminal justice system. There, an algorithm can determine the trajectory of your life. From a report: The US imprisons more people than any other country in the world. At the end of 2016, nearly 2.2 million adults were being held in prisons or jails, and an additional 4.5 million were in other correctional facilities. Put another way, 1 in 38 adult Americans was under some form of correctional supervision. The nightmarishness of this situation is one of the few issues that unite politicians on both sides of the aisle.

Under immense pressure to reduce prison numbers without risking a rise in crime, courtrooms across the US have turned to automated tools in attempts to shuffle defendants through the legal system as efficiently and safely as possible. This is where the AI part of our story begins. Police departments use predictive algorithms to strategize about where to send their ranks. Law enforcement agencies use face recognition systems to help identify suspects. These practices have garnered well-deserved scrutiny for whether they in fact improve safety or simply perpetuate existing inequities.

Researchers and civil rights advocates, for example, have repeatedly demonstrated that face recognition systems can fail spectacularly, particularly for dark-skinned individuals -- even mistaking members of Congress for convicted criminals. But the most controversial tool by far comes after police have made an arrest. Say hello to criminal risk assessment algorithms.

Comments

That's not a mistake

[Anonymous Coward]

quote: even mistaking members of Congress for convicted criminals

If there ever was a non-mistake, that would be it.

Re:That's not a mistake

[Anonymous Coward]

264 member of Congress have used a taxpayer fund of $17 million to pay off sexual harassment accusers. That is half of the 538 total members.
Paying off an accuser and not declaring it to the FEC is a felony, Michael Cohen is charged with a felony and 5 years for doing the same with Stormy Daniels.
Congress is not subject to FOIA requests, and are refusing to list the names of those involved. They know felonies have been committed and are protecting those felons. That is aiding a felon after the fact, and is a felony itself in some (maybe all states).

So yes, Congress is full of convictable felons. Pretty much all of them. In addition I'm sure some of the 264 sexual harassment accusers are legit and the Congress person committed felony sexual harassment. Just last week Sandra Jackson Lee (D-TX) fired a worker for accusing a Congressional employee of raping her, so it is still going on.

Re:Algorithms and bad statistics

[syn3rg]

Sending people to jail for crimes they didn't commit is a dick move

Sending people to jail for crimes they didn't commit yet is a Philip K. Dick move

Re:Algorithms and bad statistics

[ShanghaiBill]

Do you understand the difference between "justice system" and "prison system"?

I live in America, where there is no difference.

Do you have an idea what the word "justice" in "justice system" means?

Yes, I know what a euphemism is.