From Bytes to Rights: The Fight for Justice in the Era of Data Science
Date: 09-15-2023
Time: 04:00 PM
Location: Nursing 224
Come and listen to the talk by Dr. Topaz, Professor at Williams College and co-funder of the Institute for the quantitative study of inclusion, diversity and equity.
Tens of millions of people in the United States have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system and nearly half the population is impacted through close familial or social ties to them. Accompanying the harm caused by the system is an additional challenge: lack of transparency can render this harm difficult to mitigate. Following the words of civil rights pioneer Ida B. Wells, who said that "the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them," I will present work that uses data science to identify loci of injustice. Case studies will be drawn from across scales and stages of the criminal justice system: policing in the small municipality of Williamstown, Massachusetts; criminal sentencing in all 94 federal district courts; and incarceration on Rikers Island in New York during the COVID pandemic. Throughout, I will highlight the importance of data in the service of equity.
This is the abstract of the talk:
Tens of millions of people in the United States have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system and nearly half the population is impacted through close familial or social ties to them. Accompanying the harm caused by the system is an additional challenge: lack of transparency can render this harm difficult to mitigate. Following the words of civil rights pioneer Ida B. Wells, who said that "the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them," I will present work that uses data science to identify loci of injustice. Case studies will be drawn from across scales and stages of the criminal justice system: policing in the small municipality of Williamstown, Massachusetts; criminal sentencing in all 94 federal district courts; and incarceration on Rikers Island in New York during the COVID pandemic. Throughout, I will highlight the importance of data in the service of equity.
This event is FYE and it is supported by the Science Institute.
For more information, contact Janet Striuli / 12036838283 / jstriuli@fairfield.edu