Blind Justice: Algorithmically Masking Race in Prosecutorial Charging Decisions

We designed a “blind charging” algorithm that automatically redacts race-related information from police incident reports to prevent racial bias from influencing prosecutorial charging decisions. After successful pilots with two district attorneys, new legislation requires that prosecutors across California must use race-blind charging by 2025. This pending expansion, alongside high levels of interest from prosecutors across the country, makes blind charging a pressing policy issue that deserves further study—particularly in how its rollout affects Black, Hispanic, and other marginalized individuals and their communities. In a randomized control trial, we will test whether the use of our algorithm reduces bias in charging decisions or causes any unintended adverse impacts (e.g., increases in charging rates for all individuals). We will additionally run a survey to measure changes in perceptions of procedural justice.