How Bad Data Traps People in the US Justice System | Clementine Jacoby | TED

翻译人员: Lixin Foo 校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung

My uncle came home from prison when I was 15,

我舅舅在我 15 岁时 从监狱被释放回家，

but a few months later he was sent back.

却在几个月后被再次送往牢里。

The whole experience made me pay attention to the criminal justice system

这整段经历让我第一次开始关注

for the first time.

刑事司法系统。

I started talking to researchers, advocates

我开始与研究者、维权人士

and eventually to the people who run the US prison system.

乃至掌管美国监狱系统的人员交流。

What surprised me most in those conversations

这些谈话中最让我惊讶的是

was something they all agreed on.

所有人之间的一点共识。

Everyone, the left, the right, advocates, agencies

大家——无论是民主党、 共和党、维权人士或有关机构——

agreed that change was being slowed down by bad data.

都觉得改变的步伐由坏数据拖累。

Data that was scattered, stale, incomplete.

散落各地、陈旧不堪、 残缺不全的数据。

Data that made it really hard to know what was working.

让人无法从中看出 有效运转之处的数据。

Data so bad that people who had done everything

数据过于不堪，导致

that they needed to do to be released from prison

已经做好一切准备出狱的人们

were still stuck in the system.

仍然屈身牢狱系统。

Altogether,

总而言之，

bad data means that hundreds of thousands of people

坏数据使成百上千名 本该被释放的人们

are in prison and on probation and parole who don't need to be there.

在监狱、缓刑期与假释期间徘徊。

People like Kate.

就像凯特。

In 2018, Kate was sentenced to four years on probation for a drug charge.

凯特在 2018 年因毒品控诉 被判了 4 年的缓刑期。

At sentencing, the judge told her that if she was doing well,

被判时，法官告诉她 如果表现良好的话

she could cut that sentence in half.

就能减刑为半。

Today she's sober, employed, has stable housing,

如今她戒了毒、就了业、 拥有稳定的住宅，

she's got kids who are doing great.

还有优秀的孩子们。

She did everything the judge asked, but she's still on probation.

她做了法官所要求的一切， 却仍在服刑。

Kate's parole officer, Allison, has been an officer in Idaho for six years.

凯特的假释官爱丽森 已在爱达荷州任职六年。

And she's great at her job.

她非常称职。

But her job is kind of impossible.

但她的工作近乎不可能完成。

She is responsible for 90 people

她负责管理 90 名

who each need to do 21 things in order to be released.

各自必须完成 21 件事项 才能被释放的人员。

And those 21 things live in five different databases.

而这 21 件事项被存储在 5 个不同的数据库里。

So earned credits in one place,

获得的分数在一处，

drug tests in another, fines and fees in another.

毒品药检在另一处、 罚款和费用又在另一处。

Phone reception is bad in most parole offices,

大部分假释办公室里的 电话信号都不怎么好，

so to get the code to log into each system,

所以要获取登录各个系统的密码

she'd have to go to the parking lot.

还得跑一趟停车场。

And she would have to do that for 90 people every day manually

而她必须每天手动 为 90 个人完成这些工作，

just to know who had already done everything they needed to do

才能查看是否有人已经完成了

to be released.

各项释放条件。

So you can see how people fall through the cracks.

从此能看出 人们是如何沦为落网之鱼的。

And it's hundreds of thousands of people.

涉及人数成百上千。

Nobody likes this.

没有人喜欢看到这种现象。

I have spent the last three years

我花费了过去三年的时间

working with the people who run state prison systems,

与掌管州立监狱系统的人们合作，

and I can tell you that nobody likes the fact

我可以这么告诉你， 没有人喜欢看到

that people are stuck in the system

人们因为数据系统的不相连

because databases aren't talking to each other.

而深陷牢狱之中。

It got like this because we have a fragmented system

事情之所以沦落至此，

是因为我们眼前这个支离破碎 又迅猛发展的系统。

that grew really fast.

Starting in the '70s

从 70 年代开始，

we saw runaway growth at every level of the US justice system.

美国司法系统的每个层级 各行其道的现象都层出不穷。

State prisons,

州立监狱、

county jails, city police departments

县立监狱、市级警察部门

all running their own collection of databases

都运行着自己的一套

that don't talk to each other.

不与其它部门相连的数据库。

Fast forward to today

镜头转向如今，

and both sides of the aisle have fought to undo that growth,

政治两派都在奋力压制这种增长，

passing common-sense laws that let people who are succeeding earn their way out.

通过了一些本该存在的法律， 让努力想出狱的人真的有出狱的可能。

But the data that an officer like Allison would need to actually enact those laws

但如爱丽森一样的官员 想执行这类法律所需的数据

is still scattered across all those different systems.

仍然散落于各种系统之间。

Criminal justice reform is complex.

刑事司法改革是个复杂的过程。

But this specific part of the problem has a very clear solution.

但这一特定的问题 有着十分清晰的解决方案。

We can bring the data together.

我们可以把数据合源为一。

We can build tools for decision-makers.

我们可以为决策人员建造工具。

And those tools can directly translate to more people getting out of the system

而这些工具可以直接将更多人走出

and staying out of the system.

并远离监狱系统。

That's what we do at Recidiviz.

这就是我们 Recidiviz 的使命。

We're a nonprofit engineering team.

我们是个非营利的工程团体。

And for officers like Allison, we built a tool that answers three questions.

为了像爱丽森的官员，我们开发了 回答以下三个问题的工具：

Who is eligible for release, literally right now;

谁当下已符合释放条件、

who's almost eligible, but just needs to do one more thing,

谁离合格只差一小项任务

like send in a picture of their pay stub.

（例如上传工资单），

And who actually needs help

而谁真正需要

getting treatment, getting a job, finding housing.

寻求医疗、工作与住宅方面的帮助。

It's the simplest tool that you can imagine,

这再简单不过的工具，

but it means that suddenly Allison can help the people who actually need it

却能顷刻间让爱丽森能够帮助 真正需要援手的人们，

and help everyone else get back to their lives.

协助其他人回归正道。

We launched this tool in Idaho six months ago.

6 个月前，我们在爱达荷州 推出了这个工具。

Within weeks, Kate was released.

短短几个星期后，凯特被释放了。

Within months, five percent of people on probation and parole

几个月内， 5% 处于缓刑与假释期的犯人

had either been moved to lower levels of supervision

或是被调低了监视等级、

or moved out of the criminal justice system entirely.

或是完全离开了刑事司法系統。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Five percent.

百分之五。

Five percent.

百分之五。

Let's say we scaled just that to all 50 states.

假设我们把这个工具 推广到全部 50 个州。

That alone would impact 200,000 people like Kate.

单是如此就能影响到 200,000 与凯特相同的人们。

And it's just the first step.

而这只是第一步。

That's one piece of the puzzle.

只是拼图里的一片。

We need better data at every level of criminal justice decision making.

我们在刑事司法决策中的每个层级 都需要更好的数据。

So that corrections leaders can see which treatment programs work.

从而让惩教负责人 识别出成功的治疗方案。

So that supervisors can find

从而让主管们找出、

and fix these broken processes that pull people back in.

修正把人们拉回系统的故障程序。

So that policymakers can see which laws are holding people back.

从而为政策制定者指明 妨碍人们的法律。

These are the leaders that Americans are looking to to reduce incarceration,

他们就是美国人 试图安全地减少监禁、

to reduce racial disparities, to save taxpayer dollars

降低种族间差异与节省税金

and to do it all safely.

所看向的领导人物。

We're asking them to make pretty bold changes while flying blind.

我们要求他们在未知全貌的情况下 做出相当大胆的变革。

Data can't fix the US justice system,

数据不能修复美国的司法系统，

but it can help 200,000 people who are stuck.

但它能挽救卡在系统里的 200,000 个人。

It can show us which strategies are working.

它能告诉我们什么策略是有效的。

It can give us the confidence that the laws that we fight for

它能给予我们信心，

相信我们为之奋斗的法律 真的能够帮助它们本该帮助的人们。

are actually helping the people that they're designed to help.

We started this work because it felt like a clear place

我们之所以打造了这个项目，

是因为这看起来是个软件工程师 明显能够帮上忙的部分。

for software engineers to pitch in.

But it turns out that getting data to decision-makers

但事实证明，将数据传达至决策人员

is one of the most promising strategies we have

是转变整个系统

for transforming the whole system.

最有希望的策略之一。

So today, three years, eight states and thousands of people later,

所以今天，三年、 八州、几千人之后，

feels like we're just getting started.

我感觉我们的工作才刚刚起步。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）