Below is an example of a letter we sent to our representatives in the legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear Representative Lisonbee,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My name is Andrew Tolton, one of your constituents from Syracuse. I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While investigating the PSA, I\u2019ve developed numerous concerns, primarily regarding data collection and validation of the tool. We\u2019ve learned that many courts in Utah aren\u2019t maintaining records about pretrial detention or the use of the PSA, and that the tool hasn\u2019t been locally validated in any <\/em>county, despite local validation being a stated requirement for adoption by the judicial council. This makes questions like \u201cis the PSA actually improving pretrial detention outcomes for Utah communities?\u201d or \u201cdoes the PSA create fair risk predictions in Utah?\u201d hard to answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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<\/em> for each jurisdiction. Ideally, such validation would be a requirement for adoption of any software or AI system used by the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n