Can racist algorithms be fixed?
A study released by the Center for Court Innovation last week offers further proof that pretrial risk-assessments tools—which some states have turned to in place of cash bail—assign higher risk scores to Black people compared to white, meaning the former are more likely to remain incarcerated where risk assessments are used.
While others have made similar observations, the study adds value to the discussion because it suggests this kind of racism is intrinsic to the risk assessment model by design, and not particular to just one or a handful of assessments.