Lansing Sun

A new bill was proposed in the Michigan Legislature by Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport), which would remove any discriminatory factors when judges decide if a defendant receives bail or is kept in jail before the trial.

The bill would remove the risk of decisions affected by discrimination from the pretrial risk assessment tools used on a computer. Lightner’s plan would require complete transparency in the way the tools are used by the judge.

“Pretrial risk assessments were meant to be additional tools at the disposal of a judge exercising judicial discretion,” Lightner told Michigan House Republicans. “They were never meant to be a substitute for a judge’s decision-making process.”

These tools use algorithms based on many factors to determine if a defendant is likely to appear for trial or if the defendant would commit another crime. They have been criticized for two years, with the main issue being validity. 

Approximately 100 civil rights groups, which included the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), asked for transparency when using the tools in 2018. Other organizations, such as Facebook and Google, also have asked for transparency of the tools, according to Michigan House Republicans.

Across the country, 27 well-known academics have also called for transparency. They argued that the tools were biased and could not be fixed.  

“It is crucial that any tool used is proven to be impartial,” Lightner told Michigan House Republicans. “With this legislation, we are taking a significant step to rein in these algorithms by putting the onus on those building and using them to prove to the public that they are not inherently skewed or biased against anyone for any reason, including gender or race.”

The Michigan Supreme Court is beginning a risk assessment tool, which is why the new legislation has been brought forward. House Bill 5464 would also keep anyone from asking for trade secret exemptions or other ways to prevent revealing how the tools are used. 

“All parties in criminal cases must be allowed behind the curtain of these proprietary algorithms so that justice may be truly served,” Lightner said in her statement to Michigan House Republicans.