Structured decision-making and technology
The Center is exploring the use of risk assessment instruments, algorithmic tools, and artificial intelligence in the criminal legal system and other systems that govern people's lives.
These tools have been designed, deployed, and advanced as mechanisms to improve decision-making, but carry with them the potential to exacerbate and reify the racial bias that already infects that systems of governance. The Center convenes researchers, advocates, and national leaders on algorithmic tools and technologies and collaborates with social justice and technology focused organizations to produce reports, tool kits, and scholarship to more fully understand the impact that these tools have on communities of color.
As new insights emerge, we engage in advocacy at the local and national level to ensure decision-makers are armed with the right information to make certain that if and when tools are deployed, they are used to reduce, rather than exacerbate, racial harm and inequality. Some examples of the Center's work in this space includes:
- Report by Co-Faculty Director Vincent Southerland: The Master's Tools and a Mission: Using Community Control and Oversight Laws to Resist and Abolish Police Surveillance Technology
- The Use of Pretrial "Risk Assessment" Instruments: A Shared Statement of Civil Rights Concerns
- Membership on the New York City Automated Decision Systems Task Force
- Litigating Algorithms 2018 and 2019
- Report with ACLU: What Does Fairness Look Like? Conversations on Race, Risk Assessment Tools, and Pretrial Justice
Event Spotlight: How Can Artificial Intelligence Be Used for Good in the Criminal Legal System?
On Wednesday, September 13th the Center hosted a virtual conversation with a team of legal scholars, policy advocates, and computer scientists to explore a new direction for AI-informed decision-making to advocate for justice. View the event recording below!
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Training for Beginners
In this training, co-sponsored by The Center on Race, Inequality and the Law and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, learn the ins and outs of how to initiate and navigate records requests from the federal government using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Race and Technology News Updates
Court Cases
- Baltimore’s “Spy Plane” Was Ruled Unconstitutional in 2021. So Why Did One Murder Case Go to Trial Years Later?, Baltimore Magazine (3/29/24)
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EFF Asks Oregon Supreme Court Not to Limit Fourth Amendment Rights Based on Terms of Service, EFF (3/27/24)
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Elon Musk Fought Government Surveillance – While Profiting Off Government Surveillance, The Intercept (3/25/24)
City and State Updates
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Due to Be Canceled in Chicago, ShotSpotter Could Get Reprieve, GovTech (4/1/24)
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ACLU and ACLU of Florida Sound Alarm on Lakeland’s New Nightmare-Inducing Face Surveillance Program, ACLU (3/29/24)
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S.T.O.P. Condemns State-Funded Bodega Facial-Recognition Pilot, STOP (3/27/24)
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ShotSpotter: Why Waste Money We Don’t Have on a Technology That Doesn’t Work?, South Seattle Emerald (3/26/24)
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Facial recognition technology used to solve crimes in Central Florida, Click Orlando (3/25/24)
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California police are still sharing license plate data with anti-abortion states, San Francisco Chronicle (3/25/24)
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Facial recognition cameras in downtown Lakeland ‘hyper-focused’ on specific individuals, News Channel 8 (3/22/24)
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Privacy prevails: How Utah is finding harmony with technology and privacy, Deseret News (3/20/24)
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Duke study presented before ShotSpotter shutdown vote shows mixed results for controversial gunfire detection program, The Chronicle (3/18/2024)
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The Creepy and Unconstitutional Government Database of Newborn Babies’ DNA, The Daily Beast (3/17/24)
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Police increasingly using Colorado DMV facial recognition program, 9 News (3/12/24)
Federal Updates
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Congress has a chance to rein in police use of surveillance tech, The Intercept (4/2/24)
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Federal Government Announces New Rules on Artificial Intelligence; Brennan Center Reacts, Brennan Center for Justice (3/28/24)
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FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Announces OMB Policy to Advance Governance, Innovation, and Risk Management in Federal Agencies’ Use of Artificial Intelligence, WhiteHouse.Gov (3/28/24)
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Feds Ordered Google to Unmask Certain YouTube Users. Critics Say It’s ‘Terrifying,’ Forbes (3/22/24)
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Why the Pentagon wants to build thousands of easily replaceable, AI-enabled drones, Vox (3/22/24)
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The Future of Border Patrol: AI Is Always Watching, The Markup (3/22/24)
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Facial recognition now required for migrants traveling domestically, Wink News (3/19/24)
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Once Again, Arguments Supporting Warrantless Surveillance Wither When Exposed to Sunlight, EFF (3/17/24)
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US government assailed for its facial recognition policies, Biometric Update (3/12/24)
General News Updates
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S.T.O.P. Report Shows Internet Age Surveillance Censors LGBTQ+ Youth, S.T.O.P (4/3/24)
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Responding to ShotSpotter, Police Shoot at Child Lighting Fireworks, EFF (3/22/24)
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Some of the Most Popular Websites Share Your Data With Over 1,500 Companies, Wired (3/20/24)
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Thousands of Young People Told Us Why the Kids Online Safety Act Will Be Harmful to Minors, EFF (3/15/24)
Global Updates
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Apple, Google, Meta targeted in EU’s first Digital Market Acts probes, Reuters (3/25/24)
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UN passes landmark resolution on Artificial Intelligence, Shia Waves (3/23/24)
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Reboot of Buenos Aires facial recognition plan fuels privacy fears, Context (3/19/24)
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The AI Act is done. Here’s what will (and won’t) change, MIT Technology Review (3/19/24)
People and Events to Note
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Report: People on Electronic Monitoring | Vera Institute of Justice
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Upcoming Event: TAKE BACK TECH II | Mijuente, Media Justice
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Event Recording: A Town Hall on the Crisis of Mass Surveillance in NYC: Our Bodies, Our Data, Our City | Ban the Scan, Surveillance Resistance Lab
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Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup’s Quest to End Privacy as We Know It | Kashmir HIl
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Unmasking AI | Joy Buolamwini