Just Algorithms
Using Science to Reduce Incarceration and Inform a Jurisprudence of Risk

Properly developed algorithms can reduce incarceration and help policymakers adopt more legally sophisticated bail and sentencing practices.

Christopher Slobogin (Author)

9781108984348, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 July 2021

240 pages
22.9 x 15 x 1 cm, 0.27 kg

'… Just Algorithm[s] ... [is] a valuable contribution to the scholarly literature.' Aziz Z. Huq, Rutgers

Statistically-derived algorithms, adopted by many jurisdictions in an effort to identify the risk of reoffending posed by criminal defendants, have been lambasted as racist, de-humanizing, and antithetical to the foundational tenets of criminal justice. Just Algorithms argues that these attacks are misguided and that, properly regulated, risk assessment tools can be a crucial means of safely and humanely dismantling our massive jail and prison complex. The book explains how risk algorithms work, the types of legal questions they should answer, and the criteria for judging whether they do so in a way that minimizes bias and respects human dignity. It also shows how risk assessment instruments can provide leverage for curtailing draconian prison sentences and the plea-bargaining system that produces them. The ultimate goal of Christopher Slobogin's insightful analysis is to develop the principles that should govern, in both the pretrial and sentencing settings, the criminal justice system's consideration of risk.

Preface
1. Rationale: what risk algorithms can do for the criminal justice system
2. Fit: why and when data about groups are relevant to individuals
3. Validity: figuring out when risk algorithms are sufficiently accurate
4. Fairness: avoiding unjust algorithms egalitarian injustice
5. Structure: limiting retributivism and individual prevention
6. Moving forward: the need for experimentation.

Subject Areas: Algorithms & data structures [UMB], Criminal justice law [LNFB], Criminal investigation & detection [JKVF]