Increasing Equity and Transparency in the Juvenile Justice System Through Artificial Intelligence
Schmidthorst College of Business professor Trent Buskirk has been awarded a National Science Foundation Fairness in Artificial Intelligence grant in partnership with nonprofit Child Trends to explore how the juvenile justice system uses data analysis and risk assessment systems as part of the decision-making and recommendation processes. Given the recent development of these systems, there is concern by some in the public that the artificial intelligence and algorithms used could include potential bias in their predictions for the risk of reoffending, particularly toward under-represented minorities.
The lack of transparency and understanding by the public on how the systems work, or their reliability, further increases barriers to adoption and buy-in toward the recommended interventions. The research will work to increase the fairness and equity for youth in the initial research area, Virginia, and then as a model for application across the U.S. Systems, such as the one being studied, are currently used in over 28 states, which ensure a broad impact of this research. Professor Buskirk will begin working with graduate students this fall as they start to engage in this important work.
Further details on the research grant can be found on the NSF website.
Updated: 08/12/2022 11:55AM