Below is an example of a letter we sent to our representatives in the legislature.
Dear Representative Lisonbee,
My name is Andrew Tolton, one of your constituents from Syracuse. I’m a college student attending the University of Utah, and recently had the opportunity to be part of a student group investigating the use of the Public Safety Assessment risk assessment tool in the state of Utah. My group, which I do not speak for, learned that you are a member of the pretrial reform working group in the state legislature and is excited about your recent bill HB366.
While investigating the PSA, I’ve developed numerous concerns, primarily regarding data collection and validation of the tool. We’ve learned that many courts in Utah aren’t maintaining records about pretrial detention or the use of the PSA, and that the tool hasn’t been locally validated in any county, despite local validation being a stated requirement for adoption by the judicial council. This makes questions like “is the PSA actually improving pretrial detention outcomes for Utah communities?” or “does the PSA create fair risk predictions in Utah?” hard to answer.
In an effort to support greater algorithmic fairness and transparency in the state of Utah, I would like to call on the legislature to create record keeping requirements for the court system, such that local validation of the PSA is at least possible for each jurisdiction. Ideally, such validation would be a requirement for adoption of any software or AI system used by the state.
My group has created a website hosting resources that support the creation of these requirements, found at responsiblepraxis.ai. The website contains several articles, audits, and resources that we’ve created discussing the PSA and its use in Utah. If you have any questions or want to get into closer contact, please look there or feel free to reach out.
Thank you for your time,
Andrew Tolton