Predictive Analysis of Long-Term Risk Factors of Incarceration for At-Risk Youth

The use of predictive analytics to prevent crimes, or predictive policing, is increasingly used by governments as part of criminal justice and law enforcement strategies today. Broadening the application of predictive analytics to encompass primary prevention strategies better informs government policy by leveraging the additional dimension of identifying risk factors that predispose youth to incarceration. To predict incarceration, a decision tree model with 72% accuracy was developed using data from the Prevention Program, a longitudinal intervention conducted on 900 first grade students in urban Baltimore Public Schools in 1993. A K-means clustering model was applied to the population to identify three archetype profiles: females, adapted males, and maladapted males. Overall classroom behavior, authority acceptance, and overall behavioral problem contributed most to the clusters. Results show that peer-rated and teacher-rated behavioral factors primarily influenced both predictive models. This indicates that peers and teachers are a valuable resource for identifying at-risk youth

Habeas Data, Habemus Algorithms: Algorithmic Intervention in Public Interest Decision-Making in Colombia

[Purpose] Automated decision-making and algorithmic governance are increasingly implemented in Latin America in order to improve efficiency in public institutions. However, regulatory frameworks are limited, and the uncritical adoption of technological solutions might undermine fundamental rights, especially of marginalized and vulnerable groups. [Methodology] The article explores two cases of automated decision-making in the Colombian public sector from a social justice perspective. It also outlines current debates on the regulation of artificial intelligence and algorithmic governance at the global level. [Findings] The article shows that the techno-optimistic discourse on the improvement of decision-making through the adoption of algorithms and artificial intelligence ignores the implications in terms of fundamental rights. This leads to the adoption of technologies without the necessary transparency and policy debates. [Practical Implications] The outline of current debates in other regions could inform policy debates in Colombia and Latin America. They provide some guidelines on how to prevent some of the most serious pitfalls of automated decision-making in the public sector. [Originality] While most of the debates on automated decision-making focus on the Global North, this article explores two cases from Colombia and discusses the necessary policy debates on algorithmic governance in Latin America

AI ethics in the law: towards a legal framework for sexual autonomous robots

The academic and public debate surrounding the ascription of legal personhood—viz., the capacity to hold legal rights and/or to bear legal responsibilities—to autonomous robots has so far focused on developing an appropriate legal framework to regulate wrongs caused by those robots. In this thesis, I shift the focus: I argue that we need to develop an appropriate legal framework to regulate wrongs inflicted on those robots. I focus on sexual autonomous robots (SARs)—viz., humanoid AI-based autonomous robots which enact sexual relationships with humans—because the imminent emergence of this kind of sexual technology introduces a troubling new way to enact sexual violence. Robotic sexual violence (RSV) cases share the following general structure. There is some human agent A, a SAR B and some action φ such that A φ-s B and, if B were human, A’s φ-ing B would be a sexual offence. What is the appropriate legal response to RSV? There appear to be two classes of responses to this question. On the one hand, there are those who argue for the legal permissibility of RSV by appeal to politically liberal principles. On the other hand, there are those who argue for the legal proscription of RSV by appeal to moral conceptions of the good. My contribution to this literature is to articulate and defend an argument for the legal proscription of RSV by appeal to politically liberal principles which all free and equal citizens in a pluralistic society can reasonably accept. In particular, I argue that there is a Rawlsian “public reasons” justification for the legal proscription of RSV as part of the cultivation of those political virtues which are required by reciprocity in the just society. I show that the attribution of legal personhood to SARs, including legal rights against RSV, would be part of an appropriate legal response to RSV. I conclude with some reflections on the wider ramifications of my thesis for the AI ethics literature