The criminal justice system’s long experimentation with risk assessment and predictive analytics has reached a tipping point. Police algorithms now predict areas of criminal activity and even individual suspects. Court systems use predictive metrics to determine who should be released on bail and which sentences to impose. Forensic science uses new techniques to predict the likely culprit out of millions of suspects. The rise of data and risk-based analysis raises real questions in a criminal justice system still impacted by systemic race and class-based inequities. In addition, this change invites serious inquiry into how the data is being used and the technologies implemented. This panel looks at new predictive technologies, addressing issues of predictive policing, surveillance, DNA and forensic science, race, jury selection, sentencing and the constitutional concerns of new predictive technologies. Specifically, panelists will analyze predictive risk assessment for pre-trial release, investigation, policing, jury selection, sentencing, and the adequacy of defense counsel. The overarching goal is to discuss the role of risk and draw lessons for the future from the innovative and troubling ways in which prediction is being used throughout the criminal justice system.
Business meeting at program conclusion.