Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing: Say NO to racist risk assessment tool

Write Your Letter Below

Dear Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing,

I live in Pennsylvania, and I am writing today to urge that you reject the proposed risk assessment tool. In no circumstance should people’s fate within the criminal legal system be determined by an algorithm.

Pennsylvania already incarcerates Black people at a disproportionately higher rate than white people. Having a tool drawing on existing data would only deepen these racial disparities that already plague our criminal justice system.

The program under consideration by the commission calculates so-called risk by using criminal justice data that is not an indicator of actual risk but instead is a measure of law enforcement activity. A person who lives in a neighborhood with a higher level of police activity will inevitably be at greater risk of being caught in the criminal justice system, simply by the police presence where they live. And yet past convictions are the primary data set that the program uses to calculate risk.

I look forward to seeing the Commission take action to reject this tool, and any other tool that would utilize an algorithm to determine people's fate within the criminal justice system.

Thank you,

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Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing: Say NO to racist risk assessment tool

In June we stopped the implementation of a racist and dangerous risk assessment tool in Pennsylvania. The Commission on Sentencing claimed the tool could predict future criminality, but in reality the tool is designed to reinforce the harmful racial disparities already painfully present in the criminal legal system. If a person is Black, lives in a poor or overpoliced neighborhood, or has been convicted in the past, a risk assessment tool will determine that they should be locked up.

After the huge upswell of pressure targeting the Commission they decided not to move forward with voting on the implementation of this tool. However, the Commission has introduced a new version of the tool and next month additional hearings will take place to determine if this tool will be implemented. This new version is no better than the previous. In no circumstance should people’s fate within the criminal legal system be determined by an algorithm- we must continue to demand that this racist assessment tool not be implemented.

We have until November 30th to comment on the newly proposed risk assessment tool and to demand that The Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing reject this tool.

The proposed tool would create a risk score that a Judge would see at time of sentencing. Here’s the problem: this tool is rooted in the racial disparities already plaguing Pennsylvania’s criminal justice system. If this instrument is implemented, it will mean longer sentences for more people- especially Black people.

Send an e-mail to The Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing to demand this tool be stopped today!