We’ve stated many times that data is agnostic, a neutral tool that when used properly can be incredibly powerful in uncovering the truth of things. Or it can be used to obscure and manipulate the truth.
A recent study on Florida’s criminal justice system illustrates the point perfectly. Florida is known for being particularly tough on criminals. Because of this and other perceptions, researchers got curious about whether or not justice was being administered fairly in the sunshine state or if was distorted by racial or class based biases. Focusing on Jacksonville and Tampa (representing two very different parts of Florida) the study took into account things like plea deals, length of sentencing, prior records, and whether or not cases were even filed. Taking everything into account, it turns out that whatever perceptions may be, Florida is doing an excellent job in administering its justice fairly across the board. Florida’s justice may be tough, but it is fair.
The researchers also took a look at the same factors in places like Chicago and New York where they found major differences across racial lines. This is particularly interesting because based on stated policies, media coverage and other factors, many would expect the opposite answer.
What does this tell us about data and its importance? It tells us that whatever preconceptions we might have and how well founded we might think they are, it’s still possible for data to come and slap us around with the hard truth of reality. Naturally, this is uncomfortable, but it is exactly that discomfort that makes an honest and fair assessment of data so important. It is much better to proceed with an uncomfortable truth that might force us to reevaluate our own position than it is to carry on in blissful ignorance.
So what about the justice system in New York and Chicago? Are the judges and prosecutors there intentionally signaling out specific people? Probably not (though it would take further analysis to be sure), but after being presented with the data showing the racial disparities, they should also be willing to look at their own preconceptions to see if they need to face some uncomfortable truths on their end. As always, the truth is better than ignorance, even when it hurts. Data and an honest analysis of it can help us see where our blind spots are and point out the hard truths we need to confront.
Data can serve this function in many aspects of life. If someone wants to know whether a specific on and off ramp design would be an improvement, a civil engineer would have to find a similar example and crunch the numbers, checking for the amount of accidents, traffic jams, and other factors as compared with other designs. Or one could feed information about local traffic patterns into a computer model and run the simulation to get an idea of how well the design would work. Anyone who has had to deal with the cloverleaf design in rush hour wishes that modern data analysis and computer modeling was available when someone came up with that monstrosity.
Then there is the importance of data in medical science, especially now with the COVID virus still causing concern amongst many. How deadly is it? What treatments work? What measures work? All of these are important questions for understanding the virus and for making policy in how to deal with it. Unfortunately, too many decisions – such as eating in outdoor plastic bubbles – get made in the absence of data.
All of this shows the true importance of data and how it can be used to evaluate and guide policy and action in the future. That’s why TARTLE places such an emphasis on data and getting it right from the source. When you’re getting it straight from the tap, the opportunities for manipulation and bias coming in are minimized, which means you are more likely to get the dose of cold hard truth we all need at times.
What’s your data worth? Sign up and join the TARTLE Marketplace with this link here.
A recent study on Florida’s criminal justice system illustrates the point perfectly. Florida is known for being particularly tough on criminals. Because of this and other perceptions, researchers got curious about whether or not justice was being administered fairly in the sunshine state or if was distorted by racial or class based biases. Focusing on Jacksonville and Tampa (representing two very different parts of Florida) the study took into account things like plea deals, length of sentencing, prior records, and whether or not cases were even filed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to TARTLE Cast, with your hosts, Alexander McCaig and Jason Rigby. Where humanity steps into the future, and source data defines the path.
Alexander McCaig (00:25):
Say hello to my little friend.
Jason Rigby (00:26):
Hello.
Alexander McCaig (00:27):
Right. Remember Scarface?
Jason Rigby (00:28):
Yes I love that.
Alexander McCaig (00:29):
That's down in Miami, right?
Jason Rigby (00:30):
Yes, down in Miami.
Alexander McCaig (00:31):
Cockroach.
Jason Rigby (00:32):
And we have a Miami Herald article.
Alexander McCaig (00:35):
We got a Miami Herald. I, you know, Miami is an interesting place. I personally -
Jason Rigby (00:39):
It's like a different country. It should be like its own country.
Alexander McCaig (00:41):
I wasn't like really fond of it. I did like swim around the water. It was warm, but it's just it's I don't know.
Jason Rigby (00:48):
It's crazy.
Alexander McCaig (00:49):
It gets wild. It's a wild place.
Jason Rigby (00:52):
Yeah. Joe Rogan was talking about doing comedy there. It was real funny. He goes. "Everywhere I go, you know, there's not like a lot of disruptions and stuff like that." But he said literally in Miami he's like, everybody's so cooked out they're like, he's like I had to leave, have people put their phones in a bag-
Alexander McCaig (01:05):
Yeah, no joke with the drugs.
Jason Rigby (01:06):
And he goes, here's what's happening. They literally will sit for like 10 minutes, listen to me and then get up, go get their phone out of their bag, go outside and then come back.
Jason Rigby (01:15):
He's like, it was constantly just people getting up, getting up.
Alexander McCaig (01:17):
It's like, weird -
Jason Rigby (01:18):
You can't control it.
Alexander McCaig (01:19):
It's like a weird, unnatural, like momentum that's happening now. Especially in the nightlife. It's just like bugs, like everywhere. Just like skittering -
Jason Rigby (01:28):
Yeah, jacked up bugs.
Alexander McCaig (01:29):
Yeah. It's crazy.
Jason Rigby (01:30):
Yeah. It is a crazy place -
Alexander McCaig (01:31):
And for those people that are doing drugs and do get caught by the cops and you know, they get prosecuted.
Jason Rigby (01:37):
Yes. And I love that... listened to the title of this from Miami Herald, great title: When Florida prosecutors rely on data, criminal justice can be more transparent and equitable.
Alexander McCaig (01:47):
Yeah. This is funny because in summation of the article, Florida's actually, when they look at the data, they're doing a half decent job with not being biased.
Jason Rigby (01:57):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (01:57):
Racially bias, whatever it might be, when it comes to prosecution. So that means issuing a judgment is typically fair, regardless of the person's racial background, demographics, socioeconomic status. The judges seem to be non-biased. And then the jury is also doing a good job giving a blended jury, so when they come back, they're like, "Oh, you know that you instituted that as fair." But when you go back and they can use large datasets, right? Data to come back and analyze whether or not they're looking at people and treating them as human beings.
Jason Rigby (02:30):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (02:31):
They're like, Florida's like, we were surprised we're doing a good job. Which is actually, it was quite comical reading the article -
Jason Rigby (02:37):
Right, right, right, yeah. And they said after all, this is a state where the death penalty holds strong. Stand your ground laws were born and Florida man narratives provided limited fodder for nationwide amusement. Along those same lines, prosecutors in Florida have a reputation for being, especially non-transparent, tough and unjust.
Alexander McCaig (02:53):
And what you find is that they're actually being pretty just.
Jason Rigby (02:55):
Yes, exactly. And they said, "Those prosecutors in Florida are paving the way for more race equitable, transparent, and data-driven criminal justice system."
Alexander McCaig (03:03):
Yeah, because they're releasing the data on their judgments saying, okay, these are all the people, these are the backgrounds, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You don't have to give away the name.
Jason Rigby (03:11):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (03:11):
But it's just showing in general, we've been actually quite even in delivering judgements for people that have committed the same crime and there's been no disparity between what, you know, how they are, how the way they look essentially.
Jason Rigby (03:23):
Yeah. "And after simple percentages show a minimal difference among black, Hispanic, and white defendants."
Alexander McCaig (03:27):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (03:28):
"We considered the influence of mere cases and defendant specific characteristics on racial disparities. As it turns out, even for defendants with similar charges in prior records, for example, racial differences were nearly non-existent."
Alexander McCaig (03:39):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (03:39):
"This was consistent across the two Florida judicial districts, which were Jacksonville and Tampa."
Alexander McCaig (03:43):
Yeah. Good for them.
Jason Rigby (03:44):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (03:45):
And you know, that's cool because even though a person creates a crime, not creates a crime, commits a crime, they're judged as human beings. They're not judged on, they're more judged internally on the moral and ethical choices they have made.
Jason Rigby (04:04):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (04:04):
And breaking the law rather than how they look. Do you know what I mean?
Jason Rigby (04:08):
Yes, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (04:09):
If someone comes in, honestly, like looking hard, you know, tattoos all over the face or they're coming in, you know,, white collar buttoned up at the tie and everything they're treated just like human beings, not on how they look on the outside.
Jason Rigby (04:20):
Yes, exactly. And this was what I thought was funny. Similar studies -
Alexander McCaig (04:23):
That's so cool.
Jason Rigby (04:24):
"Similar studies in other parts of the country have identified significant racial disparities in plea offers and sentencing, including in our own work in Chicago and New York city." You would think that would be the least.
Alexander McCaig (04:36):
Isn't it funny, but that's what's so cool about data. We have this idea in our mind.
Jason Rigby (04:40):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (04:41):
We have this weird false perspective of what reality is, but data comes and slaps us across the face.
Jason Rigby (04:47):
Yes, yes.
Alexander McCaig (04:47):
It's like, wake up you morons.
Jason Rigby (04:48):
Here's the real reality.
Alexander McCaig (04:49):
Here's what's really going on.
Jason Rigby (04:50):
And here's what data showed with that reality. Listen to this. "In contrast, while Florida justice is punitive, it appears to be equally punitive toward all racial and ethnic groups."
Alexander McCaig (04:59):
Isn't that amazing? Good for Florida.
Jason Rigby (05:02):
Yeah. That's data.
Alexander McCaig (05:03):
Yeah. Isn't data... that's so cool. And guess what? The data is not racist.
Jason Rigby (05:06):
No.
Alexander McCaig (05:06):
It's just saying what's going on.
Jason Rigby (05:07):
Yes, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (05:08):
And you're looking at it like, wow, we are actually doing a half good job at throwing people in jail.
Jason Rigby (05:12):
Yeah. And they said, "The 2020 election has also created new opportunities for transparent and data informed policy in Florida. Two large prosecuting offices in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale will be led by reform minded prosecutors. Both elected prosecutors have expressed interest in joining the data initiative." We are so... this is what you said, "We are not so naive to think that the," I don't know the how to say this word, prosecutorial field, someone's going to correct me on that.
Alexander McCaig (05:35):
Hold on. Where... prosecu... oh, prosecutorial.
Jason Rigby (05:39):
Prosecutorial. There we go. That's a big word, "is going to accept data and analytics with open arms. We have been doing this work long enough to know that we must manage expectations."
Alexander McCaig (05:49):
People need to be checked.
Jason Rigby (05:50):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (05:51):
We could have control.
Jason Rigby (05:51):
They said that "We don't have data phobia."
Alexander McCaig (05:54):
No.
Jason Rigby (05:54):
I love that word.
Alexander McCaig (05:55):
No, listen, they're open to it.
Jason Rigby (05:56):
Right.
Alexander McCaig (05:57):
They're not data phobic. And they're willing to have another... that's what law is.
Jason Rigby (06:02):
Yes.
Alexander McCaig (06:02):
It's two parties and then a judge. So it's almost like data's coming in as the judge -
Jason Rigby (06:06):
Right, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (06:06):
To say, "You're not really doing the right thing here."
Jason Rigby (06:09):
Yeah and then they were talking about when we can roll this into the medical field, they say, for example, "Consider the medical field while to a doctor, every patient is unique, good doctors also observe trends and research to come up with individualized treatment plans. You know? And it's like, I think a great example of this is understanding data in different ethnic communities when it comes to COVID.
Alexander McCaig (06:30):
Yeah, no, that's precisely correct.
Jason Rigby (06:32):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (06:32):
And again, with those treatment plans, we talked about this on another episode. I don't know why I'm sitting so weird. I can't find some comfortable in this... this damn chair here.
Jason Rigby (06:39):
Well, you want to run.
Alexander McCaig (06:40):
Yeah, I want to run. It's that doctors are good at coming up with the treatment plans, but they're so bad at sharing that data with other doctors.
Jason Rigby (06:47):
Yes, yes, exactly. Yep. Yeah. We had a whole episode on that where we got into, especially with Microsoft Cloud, the healthcare system that they have coming on with that, but... And they said... In the article this way, "Thankfully promising signs are emerging that Florida has more to export than oranges and sunburns Florida prosecutors are leading the effort to make criminal justice more transparent and data informed."
Alexander McCaig (07:07):
Did the Miami Herald say that?
Jason Rigby (07:09):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (07:09):
So Groveland, Florida... Now I'm going to get into a little bit of truth. They screwed up there. I mean, if they're from Miami, they should know that they're not the biggest orange exporters anymore. So sometime ago when the earlier stages of the automobile were coming out, you know, Florida was growing a lot of oranges, but then there was a massive frost that came in Groveland, Florida, which is the highest point in Florida, has the highest elevation, its like 800 feet or something like that. And the frost wiped out almost all of the orange crop. And after that, other... And when the train system came in they realized that we don't have to keep growing them here. We can do it in other areas. So Florida has never really been the major exporter of orange.
Jason Rigby (07:44):
Just kind of like it... I mean I come from there so... It's so funny how Floridians say -
Alexander McCaig (07:50):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (07:50):
We say Florida.
Alexander McCaig (07:51):
Florida.
Jason Rigby (07:51):
Yes -
Alexander McCaig (07:52):
Florida.
Jason Rigby (07:52):
Florida.
Alexander McCaig (07:52):
Florida.
Jason Rigby (07:53):
So like I'm from there. I was born there. Spent [crosstalk 00:07:56].
Alexander McCaig (07:55):
FLARDA. Florida.
Jason Rigby (07:55):
Yeah, Florida. So that's how we say it. I don't know why.
Alexander McCaig (08:00):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (08:00):
Maybe it's just on my part. My dad's from Georgia. My mom's from Jacksonville. Where one of the studies was done here.
Alexander McCaig (08:06):
That's interesting. Yeah.
Jason Rigby (08:07):
You know, my grandfather, side note real quick, my grandfather was a postman in World War II on the ship that blew up and they all were in the water.
Alexander McCaig (08:15):
Which one?
Jason Rigby (08:16):
Indianapolis? Is that the one that blew up and they were lost for three or four days in the water.
Alexander McCaig (08:20):
No way.
Jason Rigby (08:20):
Sharks were eating them and stuff.
Alexander McCaig (08:22):
Really?
Jason Rigby (08:22):
Yeah. So he was [crosstalk 00:08:24].
Alexander McCaig (08:23):
Did he survive?
Jason Rigby (08:24):
He survived, yeah.
Alexander McCaig (08:25):
Of course. Cool, cool.
Jason Rigby (08:25):
So he gets out... This is perfect, middle-class, World War II.
Alexander McCaig (08:29):
Yeah, I love a good family story.
Jason Rigby (08:31):
So, he gets out and works for the post office. And he works at the same window for 53 years at the post office. And if you go to the Jacksonville post office, the one he worked at, 'cause everybody knows him, because he wouldn't take any type... He just wanted to work the window, that was it. His feet are worn in.
Alexander McCaig (08:50):
Where he would stand.
Jason Rigby (08:51):
Yeah. On the hard floor.
Alexander McCaig (08:53):
In the wood floor?
Jason Rigby (08:53):
Yeah, yeah, on the hard floor.
Alexander McCaig (08:54):
Get out of here.
Jason Rigby (08:55):
Yeah, where he would stand it was like his shoe print.
Alexander McCaig (08:58):
Do you know what that reminds me of?
Jason Rigby (08:59):
50 something years, just selling stamps.
Alexander McCaig (09:01):
Good for him.
Jason Rigby (09:02):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (09:02):
Talking about just sticking with it.
Jason Rigby (09:04):
Yeah, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (09:05):
No pun intended because you said stamp. Have you ever gone to the Louvre?
Jason Rigby (09:10):
Yeah. A long time ago when I was in the Marine Corps.
Alexander McCaig (09:12):
When you're walking up those initial marble steps inside the Louvre, they're worn from just humanity moving through there and stepping on those steps. Yeah, Hitler made it into Paris.
Jason Rigby (09:22):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (09:22):
He probably walked up those same steps too.
Jason Rigby (09:24):
Yeah, probably did. Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (09:25):
You know.
Jason Rigby (09:26):
I wonder if he took anything from there or not. 'Cause I know there was that whole movie with the art guys that were chasing stuff.
Alexander McCaig (09:31):
That was a great film.
Jason Rigby (09:31):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (09:32):
Yeah, that's a really good film. What was that called?
Jason Rigby (09:34):
Because Hitler was chasing art too, right? And he was grabbing artifacts -
Alexander McCaig (09:37):
It was culture for him.
Jason Rigby (09:37):
Like Egyptian autocrats.
Alexander McCaig (09:39):
He wanted to absorb culture
Jason Rigby (09:40):
I think they were really heavily into the occult too.
Alexander McCaig (09:42):
You know, he was into some weird stuff.
Jason Rigby (09:43):
Yeah very weird stuff.
Alexander McCaig (09:44):
What was the name of that society he was a part of?
Jason Rigby (09:49):
Yeah, there was some, there was like an eso -
Alexander McCaig (09:51):
Very esoteric.
Jason Rigby (09:52):
Yeah. All that stuff. 'Cause he wanted the spear of destiny. That was one of the biggest things. And he openly talked about that. The one that pierced Jesus' side.
Alexander McCaig (10:00):
Yeah.
Jason Rigby (10:00):
'Cause he figured that would give him some type of power.
Alexander McCaig (10:01):
Liked that Roman soldier had?
Jason Rigby (10:02):
Yeah.
Alexander McCaig (10:03):
Everybody wants weird stuff.
Jason Rigby (10:04):
It's crazy. But speaking of not being weird. Use data, let data show you...
Alexander McCaig (10:10):
Be racially fair.
Jason Rigby (10:12):
Yes, exactly.
Alexander McCaig (10:13):
Don't be a jerk in your decision-making.
Jason Rigby (10:17):
Exactly. How simple is that? And shout out to Florida. Y.
Alexander McCaig (10:20):
Yeah. Shout out to Florida. The Miami Herald. Thank you for putting out a cool article. And I'm glad that the prosecutors down there are willing to check themselves. Y.
Jason Rigby (10:27):
Yeah. And if you want to buy data or sell data, just go to tartle.co. That's tartle.co.
Alexander McCaig (10:32):
Thank you for that.
Jason Rigby (10:33):
Yeah. Thank you.
Alexander McCaig (10:33):
Peace.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Thank you for listening to TARTLE cast with your hosts, Alexandra McCaig and Jason. Ricky. Where humanity steps into the future and the source data, the path. What's your data worth?
