EFF: If A Pre-Trial Risk Assessment Tool Does Not Satisfy These Criteria, It Needs to Stay Out of the Courtroom
If A Pre-Trial Risk Assessment Tool Does Not Satisfy These Criteria, It Needs to Stay Out of the Courtroom Algorithms should not decide who spends time in a California jail. But that’s exactly what will happen under S.B. 10, a new law slated to take effect in October 2019. The law, which Governor Jerry Brown signed in September, requires the state’s criminal justice system to replace cash bail with an algorithmic pretrial risk assessment. Each county in California must use some form of pretrial risk assessment to categorize every person arrested as a “low,” “medium,” or “high” risk of failing to appear for court, or committing another crime that poses a risk to public safety. Under S.B. 10, if someone receives a “high” risk score, the person must be detained prior to arraignment, effectively placing crucial decisions about a person’s freedom into the hands of companies that make assessment tools. Some see risk assessment tools as being more impartial than judges because they mak...