Digital prediction technologies in the justice system: The implications of a 'race-neutral' agenda
Digital prediction technologies in the justice system: The implications of a 'race-neutral' agenda
This article critically analyses the nexus of race and risk prediction technologies applied in justice systems across western jurisdictions. There is mounting evidence that the technologies are overpredicting the risk of recidivism posed by racialized groups, particularly black people. Yet the technologies are ostensibly race neutral in the sense that they do not refer explicitly to race. They are also compliant with race equality laws. To investigate how apparently race neutral technologies can nevertheless yield racially disparate outcomes, the article draws on insights distilled from the sociology of race and the sociological scholarship on standardization. It uses themes from these two scholarships to unravel the intersecting structural and creational dynamics capable of fomenting the digital racialization of risk.
Algorithmic justice, algorithmic risk prediction, computational criminology, digital criminology, digital justice, risk technologies
482-501
Ugwudike, Pamela
2faf9318-093b-4396-9ba1-2291c8991bac
1 August 2020
Ugwudike, Pamela
2faf9318-093b-4396-9ba1-2291c8991bac
Ugwudike, Pamela
(2020)
Digital prediction technologies in the justice system: The implications of a 'race-neutral' agenda.
Theoretical Criminology, 24 (3), .
(doi:10.1177/1362480619896006).
Abstract
This article critically analyses the nexus of race and risk prediction technologies applied in justice systems across western jurisdictions. There is mounting evidence that the technologies are overpredicting the risk of recidivism posed by racialized groups, particularly black people. Yet the technologies are ostensibly race neutral in the sense that they do not refer explicitly to race. They are also compliant with race equality laws. To investigate how apparently race neutral technologies can nevertheless yield racially disparate outcomes, the article draws on insights distilled from the sociology of race and the sociological scholarship on standardization. It uses themes from these two scholarships to unravel the intersecting structural and creational dynamics capable of fomenting the digital racialization of risk.
Text
Dr Pam Ugwudike Theoretical Criminology Paper
- Accepted Manuscript
Available under License Other.
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 27 November 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 22 January 2020
Published date: 1 August 2020
Additional Information:
This paper advances existing knowledge by providing a theoretical analysis of the racial dynamics of risk prediction technologies applied in several western and non-western criminal justice systems. It demonstrates that the structural conditions in which the technologies are created can give rise to racialising effects such as the overprediction of risks ascribed to racialised people. This rebuts the presumption that technologies reflecting the liberal race neutral ideology and the logics of standardisation (such as scientific neutrality), are free of racial bias.
Keywords:
Algorithmic justice, algorithmic risk prediction, computational criminology, digital criminology, digital justice, risk technologies
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 437635
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/437635
ISSN: 1362-4806
PURE UUID: 8ab6dd39-8818-4f1d-ac92-55213d7f1138
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Date deposited: 07 Feb 2020 17:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:47
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