The first thing I noticed was how the algorithms labelled each person. Those who I thought had committed crimes that were not as “bad” were the ones that fled. My criteria for releasing suspects was that if their crime did not correlate with direct bodily harm to another person or if they had a medium to low risk of violence. However, this proved to not be the best case. There were many suspects that fled when I released them, hence my higher fear bar. There was also one rape charge where I released the suspect because the algorithm determined that they were low risk for all 3 categories (though for me rape was a heft crime). However, this turned out to be wrong as the suspect did not show up for the hearing.
I had to slightly change my criteria for detaining/releasing people as my fear metre went up. I became more “trigger” happy after I had multiple suspect commit more crimes or not show for the court date. This added pressure required me to detain more and more people as time went on for crimes that I thought were not as severe. I also noticed that the AI generally had higher risk ratings for those who were Black/Hispanic versus White. Also, the trend between most of the suspects is that they are in poverty/cannot afford to loose their job/income/healthcare. Only a few suspects had stated concern over their family/personal life. Majority were financial reasons. O’Neil (2017) mentions that algorithms target those specifically in poverty. Because of this, minorities are targeted relentlessly for the position they are in, largely due to historical factors that they are unable to get out of. Trusting AI to determine risks is not the way to go. AI get trained based on who and what information was provided to them. Afterwards, AI’s can train themselves based on what they have learned. If this is done, the AI will have accumulated biases based on the biases in society. If communities and governments truly care about crime, targeting the issues that bring poverty is the key to reducing crimes. If people were living an overall satisfying life where they can afford the basic necessities without issues and have healthcare covered, there is less reason to commit crimes.
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