10.15.2021
Algorithms and the Individual in Criminal Law – Renée Jorgensen
Cambridge University Press (Renee Jorgensen)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-philosophy/article/algorithms-and-the-individual-in-criminal-law/3EA248379E4082CFFECEAB74750999EFInsights
Law-enforcement agencies are increasingly able to leverage crime statistics to make risk predictions for particular individuals, employing a form of inference that some condemn as violating the right to be “treated as an individual.” I suggest that the right encodes agents’ entitlement to a fair distribution of the burdens and benefits of the rule of law. Rather than precluding statistical prediction, it requires that citizens be able to anticipate which variables will be used as predictors and act intentionally to avoid them. Furthermore, it condemns reliance on various indexes of distributive injustice, or unchosen properties, as evidence of law-breaking.