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Where I think the non-racists have failed us (meaning those whose attention lies mostly elsewhere) is in providing a description of a non-racist system. It may

Where I think the non-racists have failed us (meaning those whose attention lies mostly elsewhere) is in providing a description of a non-racist system. It may prove impossible, and I think if someone had described one, we'd all have heard about it. Right now, the only system I can imagine as non-racist is closed and all of its elements belong to the same race. Mathematicians would probably call this a trivial description. Comedians might call it a country club. That moves the question not to whether we can build a system that isn't racist, but what racist qualities need the most suppression and which ones (where we have to choose) can be ignored. Keep in mind this discussion has been ongoing for centuries and was simpler (e.g. slave vs. free) in the past than today (health, education, economics, psychology, religion.) And more variables appear regularly. That said, could algos help judges make more consistent rulings/sentences? Probably already are. Judge: I'm gonna throw the book at this defendant! LAL 9001: I can't let you do that.

ceejayoz 8y ago
> That said, could algos help judges make more consistent rulings/sentences? Probably already are. More consistent, probably, but the risk is they'll be consistently worse. ProPublica did a big investigation into COMPAS. https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessm... > Prater was the more seasoned criminal. He had already been convicted of armed robbery and attempted armed robbery, for which he served five years in prison, in addition to another armed robbery charge. Borden had a record, too, but it was for misdemeanors committed when she was a juvenile. > Yet something odd happened when Borden and Prater were booked into jail: A computer program spat out a score predicting the likelihood of each committing a future crime. Borden — who is black — was rated a high risk. Prater — who is white — was rated a low risk.

ceejayoz 8y ago

> That said, could algos help judges make more consistent rulings/sentences? Probably already are. More consistent, probably, but the risk is they'll be consistently worse. ProPublica did a big investigation into COMPAS. https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessm... > Prater was the more seasoned criminal. He had already been convicted of armed robbery and attempted armed robbery, for which he served five years in prison, in addition to another armed robbery charge. Borden had a record, too, but it was for misdemeanors committed when she was a juvenile. > Yet something odd happened when Borden and Prater were booked into jail: A computer program spat out a score predicting the likelihood of each committing a future crime. Borden — who is black — was rated a high risk. Prater — who is white — was rated a low risk.