University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy analyzed pretrial risk assessment tools and found they reproduce racial and socioeconomic bias. The report recommends they not be used in pretrial release decisions.
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Increasing numbers of jurisdictions are adopting the PSA, due to their belief that it is efficient, cost-effective, and race-neutral. But is it?
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For years, the Federal system has used a risk assessment algorithm to judge pretrial risk that is unevenly implemented and has not led to more pretrial freedom.
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New study shows that individual variety within risk lables make the labels too weak to be meaningful. Researchers Kristian Lum, David B. Dunson, and James Johndrow published a study showing that risk levels produced by risk assessment algorithms encompass a wide range of individuals with too much variety in their predicted risk to make those … Continued
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Researchers Megan Stevenson and Sandra Mayson studied the concept of risk and applied an empirical framework to the question of how much supposed risk justifies the harms that come from pretrial incarceration.
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Movement Alliance Project and MediaJustice created this site as a tool to support organizers and movements seeking to end pretrial detention and pretrial punishment. We think organizers need to pay close attention to exactly how these tools are used, and approach risk assessment with skepticism when it is presented as a solution to pretrial incarceration.
Our research was conducted by a team of organizers, interns, researchers, and local activists. We relied on internet searching, communication with public officials and bureaucrats, and publicly available Freedom of Information Act requests.
We do not expect our data to be perfect. We did NOT get a snapshot of every single tool in use across the country, and our data could have gaps or be wrong in some places.
Check out our full purpose and caveats and methodology for more information on how we conducted our research.
If you see a gap or correction in our information, please contact us.
