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Selected Works

Race and Ethnicity

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Full-Text Articles in Science and Technology Studies

Algorithmic Legal Reasoning As Racializing Assemblage, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Ama Nyame-Mensah, Allison R. Russell Dec 2017

Algorithmic Legal Reasoning As Racializing Assemblage, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Ama Nyame-Mensah, Allison R. Russell

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

This paper critically examines the use of predictive analytics in U.S. criminal justice policy and practice, with a particular focus on the ways in which these technological practices are reproducing and reinforcing structural relations of difference. Adopting a new materialist lens, which posits algorithms as more-than-human ontologies, the paper explores the process by which algorithms become racializing assemblages through their encounters with administrative data generated at various stages of criminal justice, and guided by choices made by decision makers and researchers. It addresses the following questions: In what ways do the algorithms become part of a larger sociotechnical apparatus of …

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Bracketing Off Population Does Not Advance Ethical Reflection On Evcs: A Reply To Kayser And Schneider, Amade M'Charek, Victor Toom, Barbara Prainsack Jan 2012

Bracketing Off Population Does Not Advance Ethical Reflection On Evcs: A Reply To Kayser And Schneider, Amade M'Charek, Victor Toom, Barbara Prainsack

victor toom

In a recent contribution to this journal, Kayser and Schneider reviewed the relevance of external visible characteristics (EVCs) for criminal investigation. Their aim was to broaden the debate about the scientific, legal, and ethical dimensions of the use of EVCs for criminal investigation, which will help to achieve a firm legal basis for the application of EVCs eventually. While we applaud Kayser’s and Schneider’s overall very thoughtful and nuanced discussion of this topic, we were surprised to read that they suggest that a discussion of ‘the challenges of using problematic definitions of populations [. . .] has to be kept …

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