If we find (as studies have already shown) that the recidivism models codify prejudice and penalize the poor, then it’s time to take a look at the inputs. In this case, they include loads of birds-of-a-feather connections. They predict an individual’s behavior on the basis of the people he knows, his job, and his credit rating—details that would be inadmissible in court. The fairness fix is to throw out that data. But wait, many would say. Are we going to sacrifice the accuracy of the model for fairness? Do we have to dumb down our algorithms? In some cases, yes. If we’re going to be equal
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