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Algorithms 'consistently' more accurate than people in predicting recidivism, study says:
In a study with potentially far-reaching implications for criminal justice in the United States, a team of California researchers has found that algorithms are significantly more accurate than humans in predicting which defendants will later be arrested for a new crime.
[...] "Risk assessment has long been a part of decision-making in the criminal justice system," said Jennifer Skeem, a psychologist who specializes in criminal justice at UC Berkeley. "Although recent debate has raised important questions about algorithm-based tools, our research shows that in contexts resembling real criminal justice settings, risk assessments are often more accurate than human judgment in predicting recidivism. That's consistent with a long line of research comparing humans to statistical tools."
"Validated risk-assessment instruments can help justice professionals make more informed decisions," said Sharad Goel, a computational social scientist at Stanford University. "For example, these tools can help judges identify and potentially release people who pose little risk to public safety. But, like any tools, risk assessment instruments must be coupled with sound policy and human oversight to support fair and effective criminal justice reform."
The paper—"The limits of human predictions of recidivism"—was slated for publication Feb. 14, 2020, in Science Advances. Skeem presented the research on Feb. 13 in a news briefing at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Seattle, Wash. Joining her were two co-authors: Ph.D. graduate Jongbin Jung and Ph.D. candidate Zhiyuan "Jerry" Lin, who both studied computational social science at Stanford.
More information:
Z. Lin, et al. The limits of human predictions of recidivism [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz0652)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @03:56PM (7 children)
So... not Democrats considering the refusal of their officials to enforce laws?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @05:34PM (3 children)
Around here it's the Republican Sheriff that refuses to enforce laws. This is NY State, we have gun laws, the Sheriff is on record saying that he won't enforce them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @10:07PM (2 children)
Are these laws constitutional?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 20 2020, @01:18AM
We may find out soon--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Rifle_%26_Pistol_Association_Inc._v._City_of_New_York [wikipedia.org]
For the meantime, they are the laws of NY State and the Sheriff works for the state, so I believe he should do his job-it's not for him to interpret law.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 20 2020, @01:55AM
Clearly they are not. Any law that controls guns contradicts "Shall not be abridged."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Wednesday February 19 2020, @09:13PM (1 child)
Like the Republicans refusing to enforce the Constitution by removing Orange Anus? Those fundamentals?
Like the Republicans refusing to allow people to vote them out by gerrymandering districts to retain their power based on racist agendas? You know, the stuff on that hard drive......
Like the Republicans refusing to allow a Democratic President to elect the Supreme Court justices he was absolutely fully entitled to do so by law?
Like the Republicans refusing to to address voting security and Russian interference because it temporarily aligns with their goals?
Like the Republicans redefining government in realtime to justify clearly illegal acts that are performed by banana republics? You know the kind of countries we've put in our movies for decades as "shitholes"?
Uhuh. But Democrats bad! Liberuls bad! Socialism=Comminism! SQuuuueeeel like a pig boy! Sooowwwwwweeeeeee!
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2020, @11:44PM
If you look above you'll find a Jordan Peterson pupil flirting with eugenics and an AC immediately going as racist as possible with it.
They are here, they don't want to admit they're racist, they don't want to admit Trump was a mistake. In fact they LOVE his racism, they LOVE that he is hurting brown people on our border. They LOVE that he does what he wants and gets away with it, cause that is what these authoritarian hate filled assholes WANT!
Now I won't say its a majority of SN by any means, but there is a small minority of batshit crazy Trumpettes, then you have the middling centrists like Runaway, TMB, Fustakrakchkch, Khallow, etc. who support the minority of batshit crazy assholes and never chime in against the vile shit posted around here so frequently.
The good men are doing nothing, waiting for literal gas chambers before they'll get it through their thick skulls what is going on.
The only hope seems to be overwhelming their methods of scamming the election in 2020 and implementing the voting security legislation that Mitch McConell is blocking. Seriously, we have so many traitors just on this site undermining the values of freedom and democracy. Some simply playing propaganda games, the child's version of election fraud. It saddens me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 20 2020, @09:15AM
The crimes that people care about are mostly enforced, the main exceptions being white-collar crimes that basically aren't enforced because the criminals are generally well connected and can afford attorneys.
The government always has to set priorities about which crimes to focus on and which ones to let slide. There's been a ton of focus on non-violent drug offenses when crimes like those committed by white-collar criminals that do ruin lives are let go. The only reason that Madoff wound up in prison for so many years is that he made the mistake of stealing from the rich and powerful rather than poor people with no money to hire attorneys.