A Louisiana law cedes much of the power of the parole board to an algorithm that bars thousands of prisoners from a shot at early release. Civil rights attorneys say it could disproportionately harm Black people — and may even be unconstitutional.
  • Limiting Parole: A new law pushed by Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry cedes much of the power of the parole board to an algorithm that prevents thousands of prisoners from early release.
  • Immutable Risk Score: The risk assessment tool, TIGER, does not take into account efforts prisoners make to rehabilitate themselves. Instead, it focuses on factors that cannot be changed.
  • Racial Bias: Civil rights attorneys say the new law could disproportionately harm Black people in part because the algorithm measures factors where racial disparities already exist.
  • entwine413@lemm.eeEnglish
    71·
    4 days ago

    Blind 70 year olds can still be dangerous. Being blind and old doesn’t prevent that.

    They’re not saying that offloading the responsibility to an algorithm is good, they’re saying it’s weird to assume a person is harmless based on nothing but two attributes.