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Wisconsin court deems sentencing algorithm constitutional
If you were hoping that Wisconsin would open up the sentencing algorithm it uses to help determine prison time, you're about to be disappointed. The state's Supreme Court has ruled that the use of the the COMPAS algorithm doesn't violate your constitutional right to due process. The decision rejected plaintiff Eric Loomis' complaints that the code is both proprietary (thus preventing him from challenging its accuracy) and was too central to his 6-year prison term. There were "other independent factors" leading to the sentence, the Supreme Court says, and you don't need to reveal the algorithm's source code when it's only one consideration among many.
Violent crime prediction algorithms are racially biased
When a criminal defendant faces sentencing in the United States, a judge can use several factors to determine a punishment that fits the crime. Increasingly, one of those factors is what is known as a "risk assessment score" -- a number meant to predict whether or not the defendant will commit another crime in the future. According to a new report from ProPublica, however, the algorithms driving those scores are biased against African Americans.
