Power to the people. All people.
A Call for Code for Racial Justice solution calls out race-based discrepancies in prison sentencing
Systemic bias in the justice system has had a deeply negative, lopsided impact on the Black community. According to the UN Chronicle, “African Americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested; once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted, and once convicted, they are more likely to face stiff sentences.” The distinct inequities found in our justice system that disadvantage the Black community hinder the prospects of a truly free and fair society — and we need to get there.
As a part of Call for Code for Racial Justice, a team of impassioned technologists developed Open Sentencing, a microservice-leveraged solution that exposes bias and empowers public defenders to directly address racial disparities in the judicial system.
The solution includes a user interface (UI) that feeds into a pretrained Bias & Disparity Detection Engine. This engine analyzes fact patterns and rapidly provides statistical analysis that highlights deviations from guidelines by race throughout an accused person’s judiciary process. The reports from Open Sentencing provide clear insights for the public defender to aid in defending against detected bias, ultimately, and ideally fairly, reducing incarceration for members of the Black community.
The Open Sentencing team is made up of four individuals, Jo Ann H. Hill, Noah Chasek, Stacy Forsyth, and Ann Marie Fred who all share a passion for making a difference. Call for Code Digest was able to catch up with Jo Ann to learn more about what inspired her to answer the call:
Why did you want to get involved with this Call for Code initiative?
Jo Ann H. Hill: I decided to volunteer to become a part of this Call for Code initiative because being Black and having grown up with racism in Mississippi, it’s never far from my mind that the fight against racism is always urgent. This was a great opportunity to be a part of the “fight” — as part of IBM and with IBM’s strong support and my talented colleagues. Additionally, I am a devoted volunteer and community advocate for multiple causes and organizations, so that greatly led to my decision to participate.
What did you think of the experience? Has it changed your perspective on the role technology and/or disparate groups of concerned individuals can play to impact racial justice?
Jo Ann H. Hill: I think that this challenge was a wonderful opportunity provided to us to engage multiple IBMers (Blacks and our Allies) across the company in helping to secure a bright and thriving future for our world. Technology can definitely help; however, we know that in order for there to be significant changes to the system of racial injustice, it will take legislation, enforcement of policies, better elected officials, changing the culture of various police departments, better training, funds, etc. — all working together.
Can you tell us more about your solution (beyond the short description) and the importance of it within society?
Jo Ann H. Hill: The solution is designed to help provide us a more racially just society using innovative technology. The solution’s goal is to help highlight racial injustices more readily to better effect positive change and outcomes for the Black community.
What is your hope for the solutions (including your project) as they are externalized? If you had a magic wand, what would happen?
Jo Ann H. Hill: It is my sincere hope that the solutions worked on by ALL of the various teams will have a global impact on the advancement of racial justice, and with the solutions — that institutions, organizations, and individuals — can continue to build understanding, participation, and collaboration to sustain and grow commitments towards an equitable safe and enhanced quality of life.
Is this effort to use technology to eradicate racism personally important to you? How so?
Jo Ann H. Hill: Yes, this effort to use technology to eradicate racism is personally extremely important. This was another opportunity for me to utilize my professional skills to actively engage in the support of these important initiatives that directly affect my Black family and community. We must all take a stand for justice and we should use the platforms that are available to us to help make the world a better place in which to live — whether that be a combination of technology, privilege, financial assistance, in-kind donations, community service, etc. IBM is a technology company, so it makes perfect sense that we would use technology to help. I think it’s important for each person to do at least one thing within their control to help fight racial injustice — that’s within all entities — corporate, police, city, schools, etc. The teams that worked on the various technology solutions as part of Call for Code fell into that category of choosing to use their skills even in a small way to help hopefully make a positive difference in our world.
Feeling inspired? Open Sentencing and other open source projects that address racial injustice are looking for your help. Do your part and advance the vision of using technology to help combat systemic racism. You can learn more about Call for Code for Racial Justice and get started here. Want to jump right into the Open Sentencing tutorial? Dive right in here.
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